Neglected Murderess for June from Edward Gorey

Hmmmmm for those who follow my blog, you know if we are getting close to June 1, it can only mean it is time to drag the Gorey calendar off the wall and begin to work on yet another neglected murderess. A week or so before the month ends I start with the antsy ants in my tummy thinking OH NO, no way can I do another drawing and make it mine. No more! But then I remember all the wonderful calendar creations I have seen out in blogland and I just pull myself up by my bootstraps (OK, if I had some I would, I betcha).... and I stop thinking and start "coloring" and it begins to come together.

When flipping to June's featured female, Lady Violet Natheless, we discover that she has strangled the Hon. Opal Gentian at Gilravage Hall on Midsummer's Eve, 1925. June 23rd is Midsumer's Eve and is said to mark the ancient middle of summer, the astronomical beginning of summer, and the nativity of St. John the Baptist. Some also claim that the fairies dance at midnight on the Eve. Here is an interesting little factoid which I am certain Edward knew - there is a Gentian Violet. Do tell....... you know he knew....

OK, back to the Gorey drawing, we see the Lady likes to dress like the Lord of the Manor. You can only imagine what I thought of ??? Yup, same thing you did. Fashion is everything? or Lover's quarrels can be so ugly especially (and this is where my mind starts making the story mine) when you have someone hiding behind the peacock feather.

Oh my, oh my, dear readers, you know there is always a Mrs. Peacock in the story...... or is that Miss Peacock as I envision in my scenario. What can you say, how about, "Shame on you, Violet. Shame on you."

On this piece I was going to literally sew some fringe on the table cloth but changed my mind when the beads and plastic purple feathers were not cooperating. Instead I just cut it all up and individually added each one, then used a favorite "cover-up" called glitter.... Always remember, sparkle is good. Sparkle is really good!

I felt it did give a three-D look to the work. Below you will see my imagined dearly departed Opal who looks like a cheery ol' gal. OK, obviously her red crown does clash with Lady V's purple tux..... I know......

When all is said and done - it always comes down to fashion issues....

As our dear Tim would say on Project Runway - Make it Work! Hopefully, I did and hope you enjoy the final product.

P.S. - I'm not sure which of the three were wearing the black garter. I don't wanna go there... I just don't wanna go there.

Published in the Breeze

I tried to post this story three times yesterday before running off to play "team tennis" and for some reason blogspot was messing up each time I posted it. SO, instead of getting really frustrated, I gave up, went to play tennis - thank you very much, boys and girls, my team won the most points for all six games played. I figured out that my team did not win any overall matches last year. They were excited and in disbelief when they added up all the scores and discovered we had won.... so for example, my mixed doubles partner and I won our game 8 to 3, our singles gal won her game 8 to 1, my doubles partner and I lost our match 5 to 8... over all score was my team 38 their team 34....... Nice night!

AND before tennis, it was an exciting day when in the mail I received a copy of the Summer Somerset Studio Gallery magazine addressed to "artist - comp copy." Hmmmmmm, who might that be? Lo and behold, there was a work of mine I had submitted last November to the special "Marie" publication by Somerset. WOW, I felt all tingly.... doing the Snoopy dance! I will not include photos of that piece right now since they may have been what was messing up my posting. I will try a second post and comment more on the piece that was not to be submitted but was to be the envelope for the other work I submitted which was a small "Marie" book. Who knew the envelope that got so messed up that I kept collaging would be the published work of art?

Interesting times in the Breeze! Yes, I wrote in my Gratitude Journal about my amazing journey yesterday.....

First Things First in the Breeze

I know, I disappeared on you - didn't mean to but life happened. Can't believe it is already Monday in a runaway 3 day weekend. Friday night hit tennis balls till late, Saturday played tennis from 8am-11:45am -- THEN, yes, then went to look at some Chryslers (going out of business sale) and came home at 6:45pm with an 08 Sebring Touring Convertible with 200 miles never been driven for a steal. Yes, the red lady bug is going but not gone yet. Two women at tennis expressed an interest in her.

Sunday, spent the day cleaning and letting lady bug run around with one of the ladies - she is looking at it for her daughter. And as a matter of fact, lady bug spent the night at their house (yes, I have a check in the full amount as a deposit ; 0 !) Go figure. I will, no doubt, miss the cutie, but it is time for a change. I am cleaning because my nephew is traveling here for a visit and will arrive this afternoon. The craft/studio room was DISASTER and he could not find his bed if he had a bulldozer!

I originally had plans to: 1) do Layer art work with Julie; 2) work on my PaperWhimsy quote on apple blossom time; 3) work on my Off the Walls book. Gratitude Journal still up to date! *wink* (for my cousin).....

AND, I was blessed with a photo of my Loren in her prom dress with me at the office. Too much fun that day. You know she is my special theatre date and my special little darling. When she was a little baby and I had red hair and red glasses (think Sally Jesse Raphael here), she would just constantly look at me. She and I were dinner partners at the table when we all met for dinner. And here she is 18 years later.... WOW, where does the time wander off to? When you find out, let me know. OK, need to get busy here!

Gratitude in the Breeze

On May 13 I stated that I would be writing down five things every day that I am grateful for.... and I have been doing that religiously. I forgot how easy it was. I showed you one page I had worked on a number of days ago and now I am going to show you a few more. This will be a short post. I am a little sleepy, it is a little early, and I want to veg out in front of the TV. Played "team tennis" last night and not to sound like I am bragging - but my doubles partner and I beat (in a tie breaker) the third ranked team in our league. Final score was 8 games to 7 games. Then I had to play a minimum of 8 games in mixed doubles. My partner and I managed to win 3 games (which is good). SO, I did not get home until late last night - had to shower - had to wash hair - had to nibble - had to fall asleep listening to my boys on Ghost Hunters on the Sci-Fi channel. Love my guys.

Anyway, I digress as I usually do. This page is a tribute to Julie Prichard. I have visited her blog Land of Lost Luggage for sometime. I met her through Michelle Ward's Crusades. I have admired her style, especially since it is not even near to what I do. I loved the way she does artful journaling. Amazing. Words in circles, words all over the place, it just stretches me to think about even trying to do it. BUT, I tried it in my Gratitude Journal:

Other pages I am working on will be works in progress since I am writing everyday and then going back to post items and photos I have taken. These photos from the craft weekend was quickly printed out on plain paper and serve their purpose on this page. I also added a little paint. OH, and I stayed in Room 1222. Love the "2s".....

This page is on the opposite side and is in reference to my entry, ". . .got pages done in Paris book!" Also using up some bits and pieces from previous projects. Don't toss just glue down.... Run for your lives I coming for you with my glue gun extended.....

Almost time to run downstairs! Good night.

Prom Date in the Honeysuckle

Loren (my theatre partner) went to her last high school prom today. Mom and Loren stopped by the office to show off the beautiful dress she selected to wear. A fashion statement in green and gold. Way to go, Sweetie.

Now, back to scrapbooking Paris..... here are a few more pages which I am going to enlarge so you can see more of the details than the "medium" size of yesterday. This is the Paris Bistro next to the small hotel we stayed at. Had breakfast each morning at this spot. GREAT.... I can smell the coffee now.

What I loved was the fresh flowers each morning. On the metro page, I used a Basic G paper and then used a "spider" web transparency on top. I thought the web looked like a subway gone mad!

On the opposite page I also used the same basic layout... However, I have to draw your attention to the "French" compass. On the outside of the page I put a small "magnifying" glass which dear Beth gave me at our crop..... Tim Holtz gave it to her. How special is that??? She told me he gave her two - one silver tone and this one - gold tone.

I'm still in shock that Beth parted with it... I really am. Thank you, Beth - it made the page!

Also, I have not forgotten my Gratitude Journal - I know my cuz is joining me in this month-long journey. Here is one of the entries. This one was my first one and I even added photos to highlight my "five fab things for today." AND, I got rid of some of the "legs" I have had left over from various art creations. It is always hysterical to me how I am left with the leggings of my creations.

Well, it is getting close to time for the season finale of NCIS! Love that show. Love the head slaps. Love the boys, especially Ducky who I remember from his Man from Uncle days. I was a freshman/soph in college and we would all gather in the student union to watch that show on a Friday night. Ducky was just so European and suave and so easy on the eyes. The boys didn't have a chance against the Man! Ducky - you still rock, baby. Love you. I also love some of the "inside" jokes in reference to his Man from Uncle days.

Enjoy your evening!

Scrapbooking in the Breeze

A quick post tonight since I have to get ready for Julie's online workshop called the Layer Love. Can't wait!

As I mentioned yesterday, this past weekend I focused on my Paris Photo Sleeve Album. Here is a shout out to Stacy Julian! Thank you where ever you are! Stacy's books have been a godsend to me in managing to work on this albums. I have to admit that without reading Stacy's two books, PhotoFreedom and The Big Picture, I would have been at a loss to get these albums done as quickly as I have. I was able to get the London Album done in record time. With that experience behind me, the Paris book is going very quickly. I cannot believe how many pages I got scraped this weekend. Here are a few:

Ahhhh, the hotel where we stayed. I decided to use stamps and some clip art.

I used some green paper and then used an overlay of swirls on a transparency sheet. Love the effect. That is my little Harley playing on the stair rail by the small elevator inside the lobby.

I have to admit this layout is one of my favorites. I ended up using rub ons and clip art. Some close ups:

I thought at first - the background paper was too busy. I changed my mind after getting the layout just the way I wanted it. The clip art on this page is from ArtChix. The flower is on the outside on the plastic sleeve.

The clipart on the above page is small and in both the right and left had corners. Well, this is what I am going to leave you with tonight..... need to run and get dinner. Enjoy. I will be loading more of the pages I finished as the week goes on. Will leave you with one last photo. I love rainy weather and this weekend we had some storms move into Harper's Ferry over the mountains. Loved the sky!

Hello -- Dorothy and Toto!

Back in Honeysuckle

Got back today from my Craft Chix weekend. Will do a short post and then update you during the week on our weekend activities. On my way, I just love all the choices one can make. Eeeny, meeny, miney, mo - which way should I go? OK, I had my little bossy GPS, Lola, with me. She does not let you get lost - not on purpose anyway!



This time we were in Harper's Ferry at the Quality Inn. Nice place! Love this group and have so much fun with them. This time I swore I was going to work on one project and not get side tracked with the wonderful demos and art making technique Beth was doing. She can really inspire me at times with her art work. Absolutely incredible - I know the word is over used sometime - but I mean it. Amy is attaching a pink corsage that Suni brought us all. She managed to get it on Beth without injury!

Louise asked that we (if we wanted) help decorate her studio by taking a chipboard bird or house and decorating it. The birds kept multiplying! So much fun. I loved them all. Louise's bird was all in pink and was such an art chix! This was our inspiration..... She set the bar high!

Photo is faded for some reason - however, in a group setting, Ms. Birdie is in all her glory with her wonderful friends:

We have from left to right: D = Darlene; White bird was Janine's; Gold leopard spotted was Suni's... Then we have:

from left to right: Pink whimsy = Lauri, Gold fish = Ellen, and Green crown = LeiAnn. Can't wait to see a photo back from Louise to see how she displays the birds. Will post more about the trip on - need to unpack and get craft studio bed clean. Yup, nephew Aaron is coming for a visit next week and he does need a bed to sleep in! He is coming this way since Autism Speaks has invited him to Dover, Delaware for a book signing or something. I only listened to half of what my brother was telling me in the middle of the crafting weekend. Don't tell him, OK!

Louise and Lauri - you were great table mates! Yes, my eyes are closed. Louise is standing and Lauri is sitting. We had a fun time in our little corner of the room!

Gratitude

Over at Korie's Blog, We Will Always Have Paris, she started my little gray cells (thank you Agatha) bubbling away with her post on Tuesday:

"Creating this layout inspired me to start journaling for this month -- May 2009. I think it will be fun to go through these layouts years from now and laugh about what I was loving at the time. I'm sure ten years from now, I'll point this layout out to my husband and say something like, "Remember blogs?"."

She has done this to me before (I think last year, but I didn't act on the subliminal message) ..... I started thinking about my many gratitude journals I use to keep in the 90s and early 2000s. I stopped a few years after I had open heart surgery the end of 2003. I kept one through 04 and then started traveling and kept one now and then (still keep one now and then now...). Don't really know why I stopped writing every day except life started getting full of other things to do once the heart valve was repaired and I was bursting with energy.

Yes, I have some visual journals, some art journals, some craft notebooks to put bits and pieces in -- BUT I don't have a current gratitude journal. I'm thinking, thanks to my Korie, that it might be time to start this exercise again. Maybe for one month. I was also pushed this way by the purchase of the digital copy of ART journaling by Somerset Studio. I highly recommend that you purchase a copy for $9.99. I also see they are offering a copy on a CD which will cost you $9.99 plus shipping & handling. Very easy to download.

SO, too many messages are being sent my way by the munchkins in the universe. ..... Would you believe I found a "Gratitude Journal" Stamp -- I know - NO WAY... Yes I did!

It is also true that if you write down 5 things you are grateful for each night, you do become a more positive person. I have no doubt about this. I had a lot of trouble doing that in 1998 when my mother died. Had trouble with that when my Cricket baby boy kitty died in April 2005 - and that might have been the last time I wrote in a "gratitude journal." I remember writing a tribute to him and closed the book.

SO, once again - too many little messages streaming my way, so, so, so ----- here is what I am going to try to do....... I bought a book at Queen's Ink when I had a class with Claudine Hellmuth and put it aside. I grabbed it last night and started working ON it not "in" it! I would like to take a photo each day of something to put in the journal. I love the red book and loved the tag I had purchased last year (yes, I was hoarding it.... but the right moment came along to use it).

You wanna journal with me for one month - it is not a life time? At least write down five things you are grateful for that day. That's all. Five little things. At the end of the month, let me know how you feel! Check in with me and I will also let you know how I'm doing.... so many books, so little time... sounds like a Twilight Zone episode in the making. (Some of you may be way to young to remember that one episode with Burgess Meredith!) dododododododododododo (twilight show theme song.....)

Paperwhimsy Quote in the Honeysuckle

Just got the May 3rd Whimsy Quote Challenge completed. This time little Hilda (these are all poems by Hilda Conkling) was about a butterfly in the wind:

"All of a sudden

Blown to my hand

Wings of dewy color,

Silvery flaky dust among my finger

I wondered where he had come from?

I asked him where he was going?"

I really love the next line and wanted to incorporate it some way in my image page but did not:

"Butterfly words are faint

But I heard his answer...

I never know!

I never know!

I am a wanderer in the wind"

This challenge was a little different from the past ones. We could select our own color combination BUT we had to incorporate tissue paper texture on the background. Had to use a butterfly, silver, word or phrase from poem, and one other PaperWhimsy image.

The tissue paper was fun to work with. . . I usually love a messy playtime. I had gel all over the place including the poster board, my clothes, and my fingers! I used pink tissue paper and then spritzed several colors of my Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. It is so lovely and sparkly..... This is the first time I have really used tissue paper like this and I did use it on both pages. You know, I figured once I got that messy I might as well do both pages. My motto - don't waste the mess!

I had the image in mind I wanted to use. After cutting her out I cut up a Prima Floral embellishment (I have to admit when we finish this little book mine is gonna be bulky!) to add to her skirt. A little petal as her head gear.

The "silver" was giving me some problems until I realized I could cuff the hand given to us in the collage sheet.I cut some silver leaves and sewed them onto the hand. All in all, I am pleased with this work.

I left the poem page basically alone this time instead of decorating it. I thought it was beautiful enough without any assistance! For some reason, I could not get a really clear photo and decided not to use it here. I will retake and load on the PaperWhimsy site.... I need to run and get some chores done and then...... I have to get projects ready to take with me for a three day weekend crop in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. I am looking so forward to it!

Odd Day in Honeysuckle Breeze

Today is "Odd Day" and I think there are several significant things about today.

(1) I'm odd at times and openly admit it. I think I'm normal but some think I'm odd.



(2) AND guess what I'm listening to: "Odd Hours" by Dean Koontz. A great book about "the nice young fry cook with the occult powers is Dean Koontz's most liable creation." Don't you think it odd that I am listening to Odd's adventures on Odd Day?


(3) I make some odd art work at times. A little mayhem never hurt anyone..... maybe...


According to Google:

"For the mathematically challenged, Thursday's date, 5/7/09, is one of only six this century that will feature three consecutive odd numbers. Numbers lovers say the rare occurrence is an excuse to celebrate. "The previous stretch of six dates like this started with 1/3/1905 — 13 months after the Wright Brothers' flight," said Ron Gordon, the Redwood City teacher who enthusiastically promotes these numerical holidays, like Square Root Day on 3/3/09."

What can you say, just another strange factoid I picked up watching TV this morning!

Happy Odd Day wherever you are. Perhaps you are in the Land of Odd vs the Land of Oz? I know -- lame -- very lame -- but it is Odd Day and only 6 happen in this century. Rejoice your oddness no matter what age it was...... Hmmmmm, do you think I was born odd? (this is not a question I will ask my brother.)