Reading in the soft Breeze in the Honeysuckles

Just a quick post for all my buddies out there. I am headed off to play team tennis but wanted to share with you a most wonderful book I am reading right now.....

In this Garden by Angela Cartwright and Sarah Fishburn is a delight. Yes, I have had it for a few weeks and finally picked it up last night after I did my first painting lesson in with dear Julie over at Layer Love. When I bought the book I wasn't quite sure what it was about. It is one of the most beautifully laid out books I have seen in a long time. It brings together 13 artists who tend their gardens with love and inspiration. Their creations are a peek into their gentle souls. My spirit sang as I walked through each garden. This book is: fabulous, stunning, amazing, and inspiring. Each artist shares their personal "Zen garden" which is a compilation of their memories.

Thank you Angela and Sarah for letting me share this joyful creation with you! I urge everyone who is reading this to run, down't walk, and get a copy today and get inspired!

Layer Love Paint Workshop in the Breeze

I signed up for Julie Prichard's Layer Love workshop a while back. I managed not to do any of the nine lessons until it was over BUT bless Julie.... she told us all not to feel pressured and we had a whole year to get this done. Love the girl! As with anything I do, yes, I go all the way. Bought my supplies a long time ago, even bought an easel. The only problem is I had to figure out how to put it together..... uh oh.... OK, here we go....


Well, eventually I did get it put together and I had no excuse except to start viewing Lesson 1 and Lesson 1b.

Gotta admit it looks cute, and clean, no paint smudges..... you should see it now. Yes, it did have its baptism. OK here we go....

So, I did do lesson # 1. I did two "pages" and then created a piece with one that I cut up..... love those scissors.... The first one above is a "little" too gold in the center - it is darker in real life. I still like it and love the "paint" drips. Julie is teaching me to "layer" - be patient and let paint dry then layer again - be patient - add depth - be patient...... On to second page creation....


The one above was my first shot at it - all three paint brush strokes -- yup, I then gave upon it and went to the larger piece. After I finished the larger piece I picked this one back up and just "played" with abandon. I, at last, was confident enough that I couldn't really mess it up. Nope, it was mine... So, I ventured and cut it up:



I added ribbon and stuff. The "legs" is a work I did several years ago. It was my first attempt at using Polymer Clay. I did a number of "stamps" which I have not used in any projects - I just move them around on my workspace and then find them again...... Since the piece was so dark I added it to a piece of sheet music and will use it in a future project. In real life you can see the red paint and the texture...



Paint everywhere.....


Time for a bubble bath! It was a GREAT Sunday!!

July's Miss Urkheimer - Honeysuckle Bowlin'

I know, I know, it is not quite the first of July but I did finish the Edward Gorey Neglected Murderess Calendar for the month. Next week will be a little busy by the time the first rolls around.

This month we have the dear dear Miss Q. P. Urkheimer. I named her Quintessa Pandora Urkheimer. . . Tessa for short. Dear Tessa was a bowling freak as in pins versus kitchen bowls. She probably would not have murdered her fiance if she had stayed in the kitchen, after all it was 1936. 1936 a year to remember. King Edward the 8th gave up his throne for "the woman he loved" a divorcee was Baltimore, Maryland, and they became known as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

That little quirky fact stuck in my brain because I did a college paper on it and it has nothing to do with dear Miss Tessa, presumably from Poxville, Kansas (which doesn't exist... oh Edward Gorey, you swine). Anyway, if Eddy can make it up, so can I. He can just draw better than me.

Did you know that archaeologists found evidence of bowling in a tomb around 5200 B.C. They found, yes - believe it - a "set of nine stone pins" in the tomb of an Egyptian child. However, Germany claims most of the credit for our modern version in the 4th or 5th century when a bowler rolled a ball down the aisle of a church at a club called the heathen. Hmmmmm, maybe I would have bowled better in my lifetime if it were in a church. My bowling sucks.

In September 1895 the American Bowling Congress was founded and the first tournament was held in 1901. I doubt that Q.P. was born yet. Anyway, in the story I made up, Miss Q.P. brained her football-obsessed finance after failing to pick up an easy spare. (You know, I was always ready to brain someone when I just strolled up to the lane.... where were the kiddy bumpers is all I asked....) 81 is great in golf but not bowling....

Yes, boys and girls, I digressed as I always do...anyway, Tessa pleaded "not guilty" by reason of sanity -- she noted that she knew exactly what she was doing. Rest in Peace "Wrong-Way" Pender. You done her wrong when you gave up the bowling ball for a football. WOW, his football looks really big .... like his head.... you know football jocks!

In the end, Tessa was convicted and lived out her life at Grover's Lane Prison right outside Poxville. Her family was able to visit her in the pen where she was known to be making pins for the local alley. Night, night, sweeties, may visions of bowling balls dance in your head. And remember she had a great right hook! You go Q.P.

I'm back home in the Breeze

I missed you all terribly terribly.... I really did. Got back home Tuesday and it has taken these two days to get the energy to stay awake past 8:30 pm! Oh 'tis great to grow old! Yep, I worked from Tuesday to Tuesday. It was work but also fun. The educational association I work for had a golf tournament, a leadership meeting for 160 of our close friends, a board meeting (I had to cover), and academies for music education teachers. We did visits to Capitol Hill and a "sing" at the Lincoln Memorial early one morning. We stayed in Crystal City across the river from Washington, D.C. It was a busy busy week but a good one. Obviously I experimented taking my photo in the hotel room. YES, I really did work... that's my story and I'm sticking to it. It was so "cold" a week ago Wednesday the "pink" girls had to eventually put on jackets. Rainy and cold in June? WOW!

I did find time at night to do a few pages in my travel journal and will share a few of them with you here. The red tickets here are some of my raffle tickets I bought at the golf tournament and I won three prizes: 2 baseball tickets to see the Washington Nationals, 1 $80 meal at a restaurant at Tyson's Corner, 1 $25 gift certification to another restaurant..... I'm gonna eat well! I used the quote I received right before I left from my friends at Where Women Create and it goes, "The world is full of people who will go their Whole lives and not actually Live -- one day. She did not intend on being on of them."

I did add the "to ride" after I got home.... I love the Geico Gecko and their recent TV ads. I love the "intelligent" gecko and his hard work into the night burning the midnight oil. I found this print ad in the hotel and cut him out, added one of my tea bags and made a pocket out of it. We had a Sweet Adelines group perform at lunch and I found two of their "sequins" in the restroom that they used as a dressing room. It matched my gecko!

I really like these small signs in the hotel rooms about enjoying a "smoke-free" room. I really like the design of these trees and one night just started tearing the image out to overlay on the first sign. I wrote the hotel and the dates and a little joke to myself about watching "The Greatest Catch" - oh how I love that show and my Captain Guys!

We can't let today pass without remembering those who have passed away on Tuesday and today: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. I suppose the most shocking to me is Michael Jackson. It is even weirder that I looked at a friend of mine about 3:00pm today and said, "I wonder who the third one will be?" She said, "huh?" And I said, "We had Ed, Farrah, and now we wait for one more...." We talked tonight and she said, "I was telling my husband what you said today while we were eating dinner watching the news about Michael." May they all rest in peace. The one I identify the most with is Farrah - we were the same age and grew up in the same world. She was a true "fighter" that Texas girl. Yes, I did my chestnut hair the same as her long blond. Yes, I was in my own mind a Charlie's Angel! She was good. Her hard struggle is now over.

Holy WOW Honeysuckle Received an Award

Debby, Debby, you brought a little tear to my eyes when you gave me this fabulous award. I want you to know that Debby has one of the most beautiful blogs I have seen and listened to, yes, I love her music. . . I love her layout and can't say enough good things about it. Please go visit and say hi to her. She is a very special soul.

I was speechless. Absolutely speechless. It is called the "fabulous blog award." How special is this!?? I am going to do as she has done and pass this award on to five blogs that I love. As she told me, you don't need to post your award or pass it on or list five things you love. But if you want...... please do!

1) Forcryeye -- She lost everything in a fire and is like the Phoenix rising! Bless you, sweetie!

2) It's All About the Little White Dog -- oh yeah..... I can say much on this one... you see this is my favorite nephew puppy's blog and he deserves "Fabulous" - yes he does. You go, Oliver. You handsome BowWow

3) We Will Always Have Paris -- Korie, my friend your blog is as fabulous as you! Yes, as fab as you dear friend.

4) Magpie's Nest -- I am certain she has received this award many times over. She has inspired me each day I read her blog. Patty how you keep those creative juices running I don't know!! You got me started in the PaperWhimsy Challenge which I am having so much fun with!

5) Lady Liberty Patriot - Terry's in Texas - I was born and raised in Oklahoma. Terry has a photo of Dale Evans with a caption "Happy Trails to You." I grew up singing that song and loving Dale Evans. Even got to see her and Roy at a Rodeo in Oklahoma. Terry, thank you for finding my blog and introducing me to yours! Yes, you are a beautiful vintage housewife!

Five Fab Things I love:

1) I love collaging in my art work and placing "secret" meanings hidden around it.

2) I love playing tennis.

3) I love the fact that I have creative and special friends (both here and in blogland) whom I dearly adore.

4) I love the fact that within this past year of beginning my blog I have met truly gifted individuals through other blogs.

5) I love the fact that Debby passed this award to me. Debby - you touched my soul.

Thank you dear friends. Just an FYI, I will be disappearing for about a week and will try to post if I get a chance. Will have to find the wii fii! And I will take my travel journal with me. You will see more creative "on the road junk" like the blue thing below which is coming apart. A little tacky glue makes everything right!



As an FYI -- TODAY IS the 30th day of keeping up the Gratitude Jounral. Thirty Days - How did you do?

Another PaperWhimsy Challenge

I really loved the poem this time around. "Moonlight Falls" .....

"When moonlight falls on the water

It is like fingers touching the chords of a harp

On a misty day."

Oh, Hilda Conkling could write a poem. Her imagery is beautiful. She was a child when she wrote these poems. Dear Gale over at PaperWhimsy is providing some breath-taking images to work with. This time we had to use something that evoked moonlight, something that suggested music, a word or phrase from the poem, a pocket with words that you personally love to hear, an image from a previous challenge, and one other PaperWhimsy image from my stash.

I used sparkly things coming from the moon's eyes that to me represented moonlight. The music - I took the easy out and used a piece of "old" french music I had in my stash. In my lace pocket I used three words: heritage, memory, and forever. On the Poem page I used the word bygone. I was able to use my last "silver" moon and a metal tag that said "imagine."

Enjoy.....

Make it Your Own

On Michelle Ward's GPP Street Team, the Crusade for this month is "Make It Your Own." Michelle says in her post on this topic, "When you follow directions, as you would a recipe, or copy a project from a magazine - that is craft. Personalizing, interpreting, processing through your own filters, is art."


In the beginning, when I was starting this adventure in the art world, I would admire an artist's work and be so curious on how it was created, that I would start the process of copying the work to see if I could reproduce it in order to learn the techniques. I was not taking classes at that point. I would never finish these projects because they were not my own. I have to remind myself that by making it my own -- it is mine.

I remember when Where Women Create came out, I saw a notebook that Jenny Doh had created and it was for sale. I loved her design. It was simple, creative, and I wanted it. I kept going back to the web site and it wasn't up and running. Kept going back, and it wasn't up and running. DRAT. I did go back one day and guess what. It was sold out. Hmmmmmm. I never did figure that one out.

So, I decided I could use the basic design and make it my own. I quit pouting (I love pouting but no pays attention to me).... and made me my own using the basic idea. When it was done, it wasn't close to her design but I loved it. I am now using that notebook for cutouts from my Where Women Create magazines.



I know, not close but it is my own..... and I do love it. I worked on one other project from that issue. I saw a bowl that was a beautiful blue with tickets around it. I really think I was drawn to the color of the blue:



As you can see, I cut out the image and journaled underneath it. I then went into my kitchen and found a similar bowl and started to create. I have always liked this bowl because it reminds me of my grandmother's bowls - I have two of hers and this is not one of them *wink*.....





I had some tickets stamped with "hug" which I bought at a store in Rhode Island. Yes, I was hording them and bought them in 2007. OK, they worked. I glued them on with Tacky Glue.


It's fun and it holds a lot of stuff! So, thank you Michelle for reminding me of the importance to make it my own.

We have a winner!

We have a winner for the Book of Names. We had five comments left on the blog entry for the giveaway. One of those was from the author. Louise was # 4 and that is what Random.org selected in the sequence. Congratulations, Louise. I have your address and will get this book in the mail to you on Monday. I know you will enjoy this book!

Thank you to all who put your names in the drawing.

It has been a busy day here in Honeysuckle Breeze and I plan to play mostly tomorrow but come Sunday I am going to have to go into work. Big meeting coming up and I don't feel as prepared as I wish I did. So a few hours on Sunday will be worth the time spent for the serenity it will give me!

After work I did get to hit some tennis balls this afternoon and that helped! I hope you have a great weekend. I need t get a few art challenges done tomorrow besides a tennis clinic. Take care and congrats to Louise S!

The Breeze NewsFlash - no rain yet today

I am doing the Snoopy Dance - I got my silver Sebring back today. All the way over to Woodbridge and back - 2 hours 25 minutes total in traffic. BUT, I got her back and she was just purring when she got Harley back in her cup holder. Harley has grown attached to her. OK, if you have forgotten, here is Harley: (OK, Harley has a little of the dramatic in him. He likes to climb statues to view his universe, yes, he does)......

He is just a little cutie who travels the world with me. A well worn face from some huggy kissy time with friends. We always takes a photo on our trips all cuddled in bed....

Alrighty, this was not going to be a Harley post. He just takes over - he misses blogging. He blogged for my office on the staff blog when we had it and he was just the "cats pajamas" no matter what anyone thought! *wink* *wink*

Found some cool decorative packing tape. Now I thought it was "White" and green - but it is clear and they only put the white backing so you could see the design. I put this in the gratitude journal and if you look half way you can see where the white backing is and then the clear...

I wrote my Fav Five today and then added to the next page with the packing tape and created the facing page real quick.

I cropped this page since I used an artist creation out of a magazine. It had a quote I love, "For a long time she flew only when she thought no one was watching." If I had written down the artist name which I should have, I would have contacted her to see if I could post her creation here - but I did not have the name. Yes, I do love the look of the packing tape.

Guess What! Rainy again in the Breeze

NOPE, no tennis tonight. I headed over to the courts (there had been no rain here in Sterling) and there were puddles on the Reston clay courts I was to play on and no team mates. Seems while the wind was blowing here in the Breeze, Reston had rain and thunder and lightening! Do tell, ToTo, we will stay in the Breeze.

I visited the Paper Source store the other day and found a great buy...... It is called an Electo Notebook created by Uppercase. Check out their products. I bought the Electonote Read & Write notebook. It has a wonderful collection of eclectic pages from dictionaries, old books, cards, etc.

Here is a look at some other pages:

I then decorated the inside cover page with a PaperWhimsy ad found in a magazine. Yes, I used a different one in the previous post. I love these ads!

This little journal (no, it will not take away from my Gratitude Journal right now) will be used for quotes I have been cutting out of my Where Women Create Magazines. That magazine is a treasurer trove of quotes. This has been my quick creative project for this evening while I get fat after all the carbs I ate in order to play tennis until 9:45pm this evening. OH NO..... carbs and more carbs are sitting in my tummy. Toto we ain't in Kansas any more!

Rainy Rainy in the Honeysuckle Breeze

You know, I do love the rain...... but when I wake up at 4:45 am having to drive on a very busy highway to take my new girl (the Chrysler) to get some warranty work done in Woodbridge, it is not pretty. Not at all. For those not familiar to our lovely area - I 495 to 95 S thru the Springfield Mixing Bowl on any normal day is not fun. Add a hard rain in the early morning and it is next to impossible. AND I decided to stay at the dealer until the work was done. To try to drive back to work would have taken over 2 hours going to the north toward Washington, DC, so why not sit and read a book. Really getting into True Vision: Authentic Art Journaling by L.K. Ludwig (photo courtesy of Amazon, yes I am lazy and didn't want to take a photo of my own book which is downstairs.... long day). And this morning was a good day to get ideas, especially when they told me the wrong part was ordered! BUT, they agreed to fix the outside mirror and gave me a free rental for three days and suggested I take the car for warranty work to an authorized Chrysler dealer closer to my home. I smiled and left in a new Nissan Sentra.

Speaking of journaling, I had fun with a page on Sunday night in my gratitude journal. I had finished posting in it and BAM - turned on the Tony's just in time to see one of my favorite and most beloved actresses win her 5th Tony. Angela Lansbury is so special. An exceptional actress. I got to meet her one time many years ago and before her "Murder She Wrote" series. I also was able to see her in a revival of MAME in NYC in 1983. WOW! I happen to have a cutout from an ad for PaperWhimsy and the page was born while I was watching the show! I have to admit that I did not realize she was on Broadway right now in Blythe Spirit. Yup, I was in that play years ago. A fun fun play.

Played tennis last night and if it doesn't rain will play tomorrow night. I need to write in the my gratitude journal in a few minutes.... yes, I am yawning and we have the Deadliest Catch on tonight.... I am yawning again. Will be an early night tonight after such an early morning. I need to read a few more pages in True Vision. Have a great evening and stay dry and safe if it is storming in your area. I hope my little slick gray girl is doing OK away from me. I don't really think she was well taken care on the car lot all these past months. I think she was ignored and she got scratches and no one loved her. Hmmmmmm. She will be home soon.

Laid Back in Honeysuckle Breeze

Beautiful day! Sun out. Top down on car. Errands run. What more can a girl ask for? OK, maybe a game of tennis. Pleasant surprise on Friday's post about the Book of Names giveaway. Jill Gregory (one of the authors) stopped by and commented. That was nice! Those two authors seem really nice and I am hoping they are working on another similar novel to The Book of Names and The Illumination. Fingers are crossed. Drawing for the winner will be at 8pm eastern time on Friday. Leave a comment on that post and you are in the drawing.

At our recent CraftChix outing, my dear friend Suni introduced me to a new coffee. It is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. She is a special lady and I love her dearly and always listen to her advice. Well, today I had a cup of joe along with my little Madeleine cookies. You should go right over to Zeke's website and check it out. My blend is Tell Tale Dark which resembles Starbucks Italian Roast. I'm telling you. . . I think it might beat Starbucks. I have been experimenting with different coffee's and right now this is the one. Doesn't mean I will leave Starbucks but it is certainly tempting. You can find their web site here Zeke's Coffee -- they are out of Baltimore. I will be ordering online when this is gone.

I have also been playing in my Gratitude Journal since yesterday's rant on Serius. I am having so much fun working with it and using up scraps and pieces of stuff. I played with watercolor last night and then used the little wrappers from the watercolors in a page layout while watching Snakes on a Plane. Hmmmmm. I don't think it influenced me.

Here are pages I am playing with right now.

Once again, I used my grandfather's WWI photos in a Paris layout. Also used a Stabilo pencil which I have been reading about in several books on visual journaling. When drawn around collaged images, they do seem to pop.

I also love trying to sew in this journal. It is a challenge but worth the effort. On this Martha Stewart page from her magazine..... I sewed everything before mounting in journal. Used my mother's lace, again!

I also am adding clippings from other magazines of layouts I like. Why not? They are fun to go back to and give me some prompts.

If it is Sunday and I have the time, it is Bubble Bath prior to dinner. I have a team tennis match tomorrow at 7pm - it is a rain make-up from last Wednesday. Looking forward to playing. Have a good week.