Painting Fever

I have it.  

I caught it from all the paint fumes.

Because I have been doing a lot of it!

Not this kind:

This kind:

And this is what I have been painting:

a bathroom door and facings (both sides)

a claw-footed tub (on the outside)

risers (22 of them!) and moldings on the staircase

door and facings to the laundry room

Our house turns 100 this year.  

We have lived here for 16 years this fall.

To keep things simpler, all our doors, facings, and moldings are white--the same white.

I once counted all the doors, but I forgot how many there were.

I'd be embarrassed to say.

But every now and then, one of them gets a touch up,

because there is always one--  four-- plenty that needs it.

March Trees

All you regular peeps know how I love trees, 

especially the blooming kind.

You might even remember a page I did about them.

So yesterday I pointed my camera at these

 lovlies in my mama's backyard.

Then last night I had some fun playing with

 textures in Photoshop.

You can vote for the one you like best if you want.

There's no prize or anything, but you can still pick your fav.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7
(Which one of these is not like the others?)

Original photo, SOOC

If I had to name one my favorite, it would be #2, 

followed closely by #6

I like them all simply for the variations from one to the next 

 just by tweaking them in photoshop.

Reminds me of eating potato chips--I can't stop with just one!

Aiming for the moon

Last night was the night of the supermoon!

It was a beautiful evening to be out on my upstairs balcony, 

trying out my less than stellar camera skillz.

Just beginning to rise through the trees

Encased in clouds

Shining brightly

Super-exposure

This is one of those 'mistakes' that turned out pretty neat.  

The 30 second exposure captured the clouds as they

drifted across the moon.

Mediocre photos aside, the balcony, the moon and cool night air made for an evening well spent.

Forget-me-nots and Jasmine

Still inspired from my Artful Pages class, I spent some time

 in my gluebook this morning.

By it being a gluebook, all I need on hand

 is paper, scissors and glue.

Last week I did backgrounds on several pages 

while I was watching TV.

Having backgrounds prepared comes in handy

 when inspiration strikes.  

A page can come together pretty quickly and

 satisfy the creative urge when I

really should be doing something else.

The forget me not flower has accumulated a good deal of legend over time. One of the best known legends is of how it got its distinctive name. It is said that a medieval knight walked near a riverbank with his beloved. As they walked, he slipped into the water and could not get out because of the weight of his armor. As his love wept and tried to pull him from the water, he handed her a bouquet of small, blue flowers and whispered, “forget me not.”

Source

 In China the jasmine flower is considered the ideal emblem for feminine kindness. In other areas these flowers are thought to indicate grace and delicacy, as well as sensuality and cheerfulness. They are thought to attract wealth and romantic attachments.

Source

Spring Bunting

I ran across this tutorial yesterday and it spoke to me.

As you know, I am a fan of the pennants, or as they are called now: bunting.

The colors are brighter than I normally use.  

I think that is another thing that attracted me.

The tutorial was done on stretched canvas.

I didn't have any on hand. Or any canvas boards either.

But what I do have plenty of are old book covers.

The older cloth ones make a perfect substitute for canvas.

Flying.......singing......growing......

Feelin' digity

Having some fun with some of my old photos.

Pretty picture:

Digitized:

How fun was that?

Just some simple enhancements to change 

a photo into 'aahrt'.

Signs of Spring

While blogger was faithfully auto-posting for me the last couple of days, I had the pleasure of visiting with my daughter and her husband in Arkansas.  They have a sweet little place out in the country.  The weather was absolutely perfect, so we took advantage of that and spent some time outside soaking up the fresh air and snapping up some early spring beauty.

This is the sweet little barn seen crouching in every shot.

It makes a great back drop AND a great focal point.

This sweet young man went with me.

 This sweet little visit was over way too soon.


**Special Good Wishes to my parents, who celebrate their 55th Wedding Anniversary today!**
Love you!

True Glue

Thanks to a great online class by Mary,

I have become quite fond of working in my spiffy new glue book.

 Just because class is over, doesn't mean the gluing is too.

I've only just begun!

I like how this page turned out.  

The boats are a good connection piece between the map and the castle.

The lighthouse stamp was a great find in my stash and fits the theme so well.  

The funky water bird stamp perfectly matches the other blues in the piece.

All in all, I am pleased with flow and balance of this page.

Glue in Blue

Continuing with homework from the online class I'm taking.

Still having fun.

Gluebook, page 2:

  

This week, Hope is giving lessons on journaling.

The first one is about facing the empty page.

Journaling has always been a challenge for me.

Have I got some homework to do!

Let's see what happens.......