Paris in July

Please put your chairs in their upright position and return the tables to their original position.  We are preparing for landing.

Today Paris in July comes to an end.  Travelling always makes me exhausted, but it's always nice to come home.  Here are some of the places I've visited in my mind (and through other participants' blogs):

The Paris Opera House, on Inaugeration Day.  That's the cool thing about imaginary travel, you can visit any time, any century, you don't have to wait for a seat sale.

the grounds of the Palace of Versailles,

the gardens

and of course, the grand interiors

You know, I've been to a lot of places in my travels, but I have to tell you  Paris is definitely the most romantic.  I'm glad I went.  Aren't you glad you joined me?

I wonder where we'll go next?

Je Me souviens.

Fun with Ephemera

Change in plans tonight.  The little town where I had planned to go has an emergency tornado warning happening.  A twister touched down just north and word is, there are more coming. 

SO, I'll stay home instead.

I've done a couple of ATC's for my favorite challenge in the whole wide world, The Order of the Opus Gluei .

(Holy poo, the news is on behind me and I am DEFINITELY not going out of town tonight!)

We've been asked to use any little bits and pieces of ephemera that we may have lying around to make something fun.  I've had this picture of an Edgar Degas painting ever since I cut it out of the newspaper to remind myself I wanted to go to the Degas Exhibit at the museum.  I think this counts as ephemera.  I painted it with gel medium and then added some German Scrap, and a couple of rub-ons.  And I had EXACTLY the frame for it.  Looks just like it should be in a museum, doesn't it?  Well, rest assured, it IS.  In the museum at my house.

The second thing I made ("thing" is such a dorky word)  includes another piece of ephemera I tore out of the newspaper one day.  it's an ad for "Pop" as you can tell.  I thought it looked kind of retro.  I attached it to the background (some paper from somewhere) with more gel medium, and then covered it with a piece of acrylic that I ran through the laminator at work with some cut-up saran wrap.  I thought it made it look kind of "cool"  As in an icebox.  Hence, the word "cool".  Don't lick it, your tongue may get stuck.  And THAT would look REALLY silly.

VOILA!!

Fun With Ephemera for the Opus Gluei challenge #65. 

Go over there.  Hurry.  You have time to play.  Well, actually, this site is so cool, you can play whenever you want, however you want. they just give you the inspiration.   Go on. You'd be a fool not to.

I'm linking up with  Just Jingle   and  

Friday Fill-ins #187

.

1. I'm going _insane_.

2. _However, insanity breeds_ adventure and daring.

3. Perhaps today you can make it a point _to smile at me_.

4. _I used to have a_ true adventurer’s spirit.

5. Compassion is _one of the qualities I pray for on my way to work each morning_

6. _Be true to your beliefs,_ no matter how difficult.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _being with friends_, tomorrow my plans include _taking little ones to the Sunmaze_ and Sunday, I want to _not worry about going to work on Monday, cus it's a LONG WEKKEND_!

 
Hooray!!
Se lots more Friday Fill-ins here.

Just some ATC's

I'm having a blast these days participating in ATC swaps through Swap-Bot.  I try to be considerate and not show you any of the ATC's a send out until I hear from my partner that s/he has received it.  Well, some have been received and I thought you might like to see what I've been up to.  (when I'm not sleeping or working, that is)

First, we have "Marie Antoinette":

Then, "Butterfly":

Next, is "Moose":

And lastly, for now, "Vintage Nude"

Now I ask you, how much fun is this?

Speaking of Marie Antoinette, this Saturday marks the end of Paris in July, which has been a month-long celebration of all things Paris.  I hope you'll check out the l-o-n-g- list of participants, as I have been, and join our hosts, Karen and Tamara as we enjoy book reviews, movie reviews, tips on French art and cooking, holiday memories and even ride-alongs with those who have the good fortune to actually BE in Gay Paree, as we speak! 

Even my computer got involved.  And for those of you who read my post about how my computer sometimes switches from French to English WITHOUT my permission, and have concluded that I am totally off my rocker, I should tell you that I live in Canada.  Canada.  Where Quebec is.  The poor cousin of France.  Where they speak French. In Quebec.  In Canada. The reason I bring this up is because the other day, I was doing something decidedly computer-y and the Windows-gods asked me if I was using Canadian-English, or Canadian-French format.  Hah!  See?  I am not hallucinating.  My computer DOES speak French.  So there.  Told you so.

Je suis Canadienne.

Bon Soir.  :-)

PS.  Back Saturday with a wrap-up of my own.  Possible en francais. Possible pas.  And my computer didn't write this.  I did.

Hi!!

I'm a Ginger Gem!!  I was so far behind in my blurfing, that I didn't even know!  I found out by reading the comments on my own blog. Well, duh. I am so excited!
Having said that, if I can do it, anybody can.  They have majorly fun challenges and you can join in any of them that tickle your fancy.  (How's your fancy, but the way?)  Go on, check them out!

Wordless Wednesday

Lots more Wordless Wednesdays here

Art Creation Friday #84

This is the image we were to use for the current Art Creation Friday challenge.  Isn't he cute?

And this is what I came up with.

I don't have much more to tell you this evening, as I've had two long, crazy days at work and I need to get to bed.  One more long day tomorrow, but it'll be Wordless Wednesday, I should be able to handle that! Then I'll be able to chat with y'all on Thursday, god willing and the creek don't rise.  Have a funny day in the meantime.

Haute Cuisine

Did everyone see the movie, Julie and Julia?  I loved it.  Meryl Streep is one fine actress, IMO, and she played the real Julia Child perfectly. 

This photo of her is SO typical Julia, laughing and sharing her passion with her viewers.When I was younger, I would watch Julia on TV and be in awe of the work she put into each creation.  Nothing "fast food" about her cooking, that's for sure.  She was, in fact one of my inspirations for going to cooking school and becoming a genuine (although nowhere as good as Julia) chef.  When I attended cooking school there was a right way to do things and a wrong way.  And we had to learn the right way.  That meant we whipped meringue to stiff peaks, with our hands, no utensils.  (Let me tell you, THOSE classes required a visit to the bar afterwards.)  Every morning we had to set up our "mis en place" (all of our ingredients for the current dish), every stockpot had a "bouquet garni" (fragrant herbs), and all of the sauces we had to learn were from Larousse Gastronomie, the BIBLE of French cooking. My first true cooking job when I graduated was as a saucier for a steakhouse and during the interview, the chef interrogated me on the ingredients for a number of obscure French sauces.  Julia would have known them all.  I got the job, BUT, in my locker I had a copy of the Larousse stashed and I don't know how many times a day I snuck off to the locker to look up how to make this sauce or that. That chef never did know how I pulled that off, ('cus he was usually drunk) and I went on to become a fairly good sous-chef, if I do say so myself.  But that was then, this is now.

We had crepes for lunch.  They were marvelous.  Are you old enough to remember when Crepes Suzette were the "dessert of the day"?  I had a job once as a crepe-maker too, eons ago, in a French restaurant. There were these crepe pans on the ends of these spokes of a wheel and they spun around while I had to make crepes and flip them.  It was like an episode of Big Brother. I'll spare you the details, it didn't go so well.  BUT, as a saucier, I learned how to make soups and sauces and that included THE Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon.  Now if you saw the movie Julie and Julia, you will know how intricate the making of this classic dish is, and how it has become a cult classic, if you travel in those circles.  I was going to give you the recipe, but to tell you then truth, it's so long and so involved, that I think Blogger would block me from ever posting again.  lol  I'll give you a picture instead.I know, I know, I SAID I would cook for you.  BUT have you BEEN outside today?  Yeah?  Well do you want to eat STEW?  Heck, last night at about 10PM I made Kraft dinner.  And there's always pizza.  Hey, why don't they deliver cupcakes?

Go on over to Paris in July to see a lot of posts that have to do with the REAL Paris. not the one in my mind!  lol

The Deets

I am sad to say I DID not meet a handsome man who wanted to immediately whisk me away to Paris, when he set eyes upon me today.  As Planned.  Now that could have something to do with the fact that every man at the Photo Walk looked like my ex-husband, with his tilley hat and his khaki vest with myriad pockets for all the little gadgets that we photographers carry around with us.  When I realized THAT, I decided that I wouldn't make eye contact with anyone who did not have breasts.  I spent the morning with my eye glued to the camera, and had lunch with the leader, who is a lovely lady.  All right, all right.  I KNOW I should have something a little more exciting to report to you all, but such is life.  I figure once burned, twice shy.  My ex-husband is a photographer, did I mention that?  Well, he IS and why I didn't make the connection that there could quite possibly be other photographers that would conjure up some scary memories for me, is beyond me.  There was a car accident right beside us as we were waiting for the Walk to begin and I considered grabbing a cute fireman (heck, they're ALL cute) and shoving him in my truck and driving him to my house, JUST SO I would have something to report to all my bloggy buds, but they're quick, those firemen.  And strong.  Sigh.  did I ever tell you that years ago when I ran a 70-bed shelter, and we had an arsonist, I would get called in the middle of the night to come down, when another fire was set?  No?  Well, the point is, all the staff thought I was setting the fires just so I could work with the Arson Squad.  I was not!

Having said that, I went to the video store on the way home and rented:

1. 
   
   Funny Face, with Audrey Hepburn
2. 
   
   A Little Romance, starring Lawrence Olivier
3. 
   
   An American in Paris, with (who else but) Gene Kelly

and I am going to make some popcorn and admire the City of Lights on my pitiful little TV, All ALONE, instead of in person, with a handsome photographer.  Or fireman.  Sigh.Tomorrow, in honour of Paris in July I am planning to do some French cooking.

You're invited. I do hope you'll join me.

I haven't forgotten Paris!

Honest, I have plans "en francais" pour la weekend.

Stay tuned

I've made something!!

for The Order of the Opus Gluei Challenge #64:  "What's Cookin, Good Lookin?"  I've been in withdrawal from making stuff and so put this quickie ATC together. Nothin' fancy, but I think the cowboy is kinda cute.

This is for Just Jingle's Fabulous Friday too.

In the morning I'm going on the International Photo Walk through one of our older, more beautiful neigbourhoods.  Apparently, there are 31,000 folks walking all at the same time in 1,100 different cities on both sides of the ocean. (only 50 in my group, for which I am extremely grateful)  It should be a blast.  Lunch and "refreshments" afterwards.  Maybe I'll meet a cute photographer who is lonely and likes a woman who can cook.  WHAT?!  It could happen.

I'll let you know.

Blog Break

Hi y'all. I see the last time I posted was Saturday.  And now it's Tuesday.  Soon to be Wednesday in fact.
I am just poppin in to say I am alive and well, but am doing some major self-care for a bit.  Work has been overwhelming lately, more than I can handle, in fact, and so I've made a decision that I need to triage and:

1. get a minimum of eight hours sleep a night, about double what I usually get
2. eat some regular, reasonably healthy meals, something I've never been real good at, since my first career as a chef
3. reach out to some friends for support (not that my friends in the Blogoverse aren't support, cus they are, but this requires some serious face-to-face stuff)
4. up my meditation time, which has kind of fallen by the wayside lately

Hungry,Angry, Lonely, Tired  (as in, don't get too:)
H.A.L.T.

I won't be long.  In the meanwhile, I shall post a couple of ATC's I have waiting in the wings for you to take a gander at.  But NO  "tutorials".  lol

Be back soon, I already miss you all.

Art Creations Friday #83

This week Art Creations Friday presented us with this image.

The challenge is to use the image or background presented and create something of your own with it.  so I did:

The background is by Lisa's Altered Art, with a steampunk image by SherrieJD.  The blinp is by Sherrie JD as well.  I've used one of Gypsy Chick's Botanical overlays.  I can't remember where I got the Supergirl Decal from, probably a free digital element site, and the brads too.  The Mona Lisa mask is Susie Que's.  I used a Dead Secretary font for the battlecry on some unknown pink paper.  It's all digital, did I mention that?

Doesn't she look tough?  No?  Bored, you say?  Yeah, whatever.

Hey, go visit Art Creations Friday.  But take a coffee. Or a glass of wine.  You'll be there a while.  TTFN

GC60 Colour Challenge Shades of Blue

This is what I've put together for Gingersnap Creations Colour Challenge 
Shades of Blue . It's a 5x7 canvas on which I put a butterfly image from the Internet.  I changed the original colours in it to blues, then reprinted the lady only in the original colours, then put her over the blue image. They were both attached to the canvas with Golden Gel Medium.  Then I covered (around her) the canvas with:

 

1. 
   
   gesso
2. 
   
   Distress Pine Needles Crackle Paint
3. 
   
   light blue acrylic paint
4. 
   
   Distress Broken China Crackle Paint
5. 
   
   Vaseline, as per the "Peeled Paint" technique
6. 
   
   Grey Acrylic Paint
7. 
   
   Some Distress Faded Jeans Crackle Paint
8. 
   
   sky blue and periwinkle blue acrylic paint

The bluebirds were punched with a Martha Stewart punch out of some shiny paper I found in a corner of my studio.  The quote is from Scrapartist  . Up top is some paper by Prima that I punched out with another punch (by someone).  Buttons from my button stash and a jewel under her boobies.

(whew, am I done?)

And there you have it.  There are lots more Shades of Blue over at Gingersnap Creations so hurry on over there and drool.

Oh, you know what else?  My blog-bud Just Jingle is having her very first "Fabulous Friday" party today.  That's another place you want to visit.  She's fun, fun, and more fun.  Way more fun than me.  But maybe not as crazy.

So have a Fabulous Friday!! 

(PS.  I see for some unkown reason the numbers on my list do not line up with the items on my list.  Please pretend they do.)

Friday Fill In #185

And...here we go!

1. This is what life does. It lets you _pick yourself up and start over again._.

2. _Do the majority of the people really_ appreciate the moment?

3. Upon reflection _I think maybe I have more resilience than I give my self credit for_.


4. _I was pretty dysfunctional_ for quite a long time.


5. Later, you wake up _and realize you just can't do it anymore._


6. _Away!_ to the far and boundless sea.


7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _resting_, tomorrow my plans include working on my professional portfolio so that I don't miss the deadline and lose the privilege to practice_ and Sunday, I want to _recover from working on my portfolio so that I don't miss the deadline and lose the privilege to practice. _!

For some reason I could not upload the picture from Friday Fill Ins , but if you go over there so visit more, you'll see the pictures I SHOULD have here!  What better reason to go visit??

GC61-Chestnut Theme Challenge: Heat

Guess what?  Summer has arrived!  Hah!  Bet you think I'm smokin' something illegal, but NO.  I had the furnace on two days ago, for crying out loud!  It's not exactly HOT, but the furnace isn't on either.  It's all relative, you know.  Well, the sunshine inspired me to make an ATC for the Gingersnap Creations "HEAT" Challenge.  I found the image on the Internet, distressed-inked the background with spiced marmalade, mustard seed, worn lipstick and fired brick, embossed a power plant and the word "energy" with Stampendous PEARLustre Carnelian Opaque (ain't that a mouthful!) embossing powder.  and get this!  I just reached into the garbage and I can tell you who made the two stamps I used!!! Hot off the Press!! (For those of your who think I've totally lost it, I NEVER have the information on the stamps I use!!)  Oh, I'm so excited! Then I stamped and embossed a blazing sun (also HOTP!) which is really hard to see over top of it all (but makes those cowboys sweat under their leather chaps) with Whispers Yellow embossing powder.  I outlined the powerplant and the word too with black ink.  Then lastly, glossy accents on the word "Hot".  (mmmm, cowboys)

It's seems hot to me, how about you?  Go on over now to Gingersnap Creations and admire lots more steamy work.  Wear some sunscreen.  Maybe SPF 42.  It's warm over there.

For fun, I've decided to party with these fine folks:

     

July Dress-Up

This is my July creation for Dress Up-2010.

It started out pink, but somehow ended up a salmony/coraly colour.  Not what I had planned but there you go. I decoupaged some really pretty napkins onto a cardstock base, using a lovely template that Jenxo kindly passed on to me. Then I stamped and embossed some white script on that.

I stamped and embossed in green the waistband and hem with a lace stamp I have and added some pearls to the waistband and sleeves. I finished it off with some of those "bubble thingies" that someone told me the name of previously and I can't remember.  The finishing touch is a salmony/coraly rose that I DID NOT make, before you all compliment me on it.  I simply added some dimensional pearls.

I have no idea who made the products I used this month and am not going to lose any sleep over it. I like my dress and once I get the hanger made, it will join the other 6 in the wardrobe. (which is getting somewhat crowded) At any rate, this is my July dress, I hope you go and check out all the

 other dresses   for this month, they are amazing!

Wordless Wednesday

I hope you'll check out more Wordless Wednesdays here

Napoleon de Bonaparte- for Paris in July

Surely we've all heard of this little guy?  (I think I dated him once)  Monsieur B. was the Emporer of the French people from 1769-1821.He fought some MAJOR battles, in fact at the museum the other day, I was fascinated to see a huge diorama with a total of 60,000 soldiers going at it, with him at the centre of it all.  Not someone I would want to upset.

In honour of Paris In July, I did a little research on him.  What I've decided to share with you is the following quotes:

1. "A man cannot become an atheist merely by wishing it." (This is true, I tried when I was a teenager and failed miserably.)
2. "A picture is worth a thousand words." (gasp!  Did you know HE said this?)
3. "A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of coloured ribbon."  (So will a scrapbooker.) 
4. "History is a set of lies agreed upon". (especially if we are talking about my weight.)
5. "If you want a thing done well, do it yourself"  (He must have known my mother.)
6. "Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets." ( Mel Gibson should have thought of that before he opened his mouth. ever.)
7. "Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows."  (must not have heard my daughter practicing her tuba.)
8. "Women are nothing but machines for producing children."  (good thing he didn't live in THIS century.)
9. "In politics stupidity is not a handicap." (Maybe he DOES live in this century.)

and finally:

 NUMBER 10: "The best cure for a body is a quiet mind."

which is why I shall say good night now.

Good Night.

PS.  I have to add this disclaimer:  1.  I LOVE music and can't imagine life without it.  2.  My daughter is a VERY good tuba player and I love her a lot.