No title tonight

Just these pages I made for my calendar.  They're both digital and if you want to what any of the elements are, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Paris Art

I spent the afternoon with a friend exploring our museum.  We went primarily to see an exhibition of the French Imprssionists.  I couldn't take any pictures for you, I knew that.  I knew that because I almost got thrown out of the Palm Springs Art Museum by a security guard who was miffed that I took a couple of pictures without his permission.  I like my freedom, wasn't about to try that again.  So I will just have to show you a picture of the Louvre, a museum I have never had the pleasure to visit, but hope to one day.  The friend I was with today has been to the Louvre.  He too tried to take some photos, in particular, of the Mona Lisa.  He told me though that there is glass in front of it and he wasn't able to get a successful shot.  Such is life.  We sat for awhile and pondered the injustices of life.  Sigh.  I really should be in Paris.  It's only right.

Biscuit Giveaway!!

I'll bet you thought I meant cookies, didn't you?  ALWAYS thinking about sugar, some of us.  Nope, I hate to disappoint you, but this giveaway is BY Biscuit, not OF biscuits.  You will have to go see what I mean.  and maybe you'll win.  but not biscuits.  You'll have to go to the store for those.

Art Creations friday #82 and Opus Gluei #63

This is my contribution for Art Creations friday.I'm also using it this week for The Order of The Opus Gluei's weekly challenge.  I don't normally submit one item for more than one challenge, but I have to be honest and tell you that every time I look at this ATC, I laugh.  Just the look on her face does it for me.  The Opus challenge is to "Send Some Smiles".  If this doesn't make you smile, Oh Well.  It's not my fault.

The background is the image we are to use from Art Creations friday.    Isn't it luxurious? (Or can you see it with all the stuff I put on top?)

The digital garden gate is by Heaven's Gate Designs and I've printed it on a transparency.  (I probably didn't need to tell you that, you're not dumb lol)    The little girl, face and all is from Lisa's Altered Art.  I've added some bling along the bottom strip of (unknown) paper and stickles to the child's hairbow and belt.  An unknown pearl becomes the gate handle and the type was done on my 'puter. It's basically all digital, but I printed the elements off and put them all together with some added shiny.  You gotta have added shiny.

Hope you DO smile.  Work with me. It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood.

Sweet Sweet Giveaway!

My buddy Formerly.Lisa is having a sweet sweet giveaway!  Her blog is one of my favs for two reasons:  one, the eye candy and two, her honesty.  Oop!  Three, she lives in the same province as I do and I actually got a chance to play with her and an assortment of glimmer mists and Airondack Colour Washes once.  (made some of my favorite pages as a result of that playdate)  She's the only blog buddy I've met, so that makes her extra special.  But I'm off on another tangent now, I realize.  Anyways, I hope you go visit her and maybe even win something!!

Women of Paris

I think I was born into the wrong generation.

What I would give to have been able to wear one of these dresses.

No, wait.  I just realized how early I would have to get up to get ready for work.

Never mind.

No women were hurt in the making of these ATC's.

Friday Fill In #184

1. Layers of _raspberry jam interspersed with dark chocolate shavings_.

2. _Some people lack any self-awareness and_ insight.

3. I'd be willing to bet _it's going to be a really hot weekend_.

4. _The crazied cat who lives with me_ scares the dog.

5. I'm fond of _popcorn curls_.

6. _I think_ too much!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _not being on call for work_, tomorrow my plans include _making my July Dress Up dress_ and Sunday, I want to _evaluate my priorities_!

Check out lots more Friday Fill Ins here

Some days are diamonds

Yes, it's true! I have become a proud card carrying member of the Bloggerette Sorority! I know, I know, you thought you would get there before I did, but NO, I am the first! (in my family LOL)
There are two requirements you must fulfill before you are allowed to join this not-so secret society: 1. Create something with the image of the "sorority sisters" and 2. Have your photo taken with your creation. The first one was easy, the second not so much. (don't tell anyone what I look like, I'm incognito, dontcha know)
I hope you will visit Karen's lovely blog and who knows, maybe you'll meet some of us as you trudge the road of happy destiny!
BTW, the faces are the "sisters" and the bodies are from one of Susie Que's wonderful images. They are on a background that my daughter made with cardboard, glue, popped balloons and acrylic paint. I added Graphic 45 paper, some of it punched and distressed, a Hambley bicycle transparency, a Creative Imaginations journalling card, a digital picture frame, unknown felt dancing child and brad, October Afternoon vintage card,a Prima flourish and a flower I made of some packaging I had. The flapper's dress is embellished with some glossy accents and distress stickles. Lastly, shiny letters from my stash.

For those of you who are having a heat wave...

You won't believe this

During my last post, my computer began to type in French. Honestly I am really telling you the truth. Those of you who do not live in Canada likely never have this happened. Things like (English) question marks have disappeared are nowhere to be found. Instead we have accent graves and such, which are of no use to me if I want to write something the majority can follow. To get rid of this aberration, we must shut down the computer to punish it back to normal. It wiil start up again with a little less attitude. Start it up again. And begin again what we began some time ago Harrumph. Hey, American friends, does your computer switch into Spanish at whim? And my buddies from the United Kingdom, what does your computer do to terrorize you? We have your queen over here, you know, you had better be very proper, she may be reading my blog. How I got to this topic is WAY beyond me. This image, by the way is an advertisement for a French product which was developed in 1880 by a pharmacist who wanted to help people gain a sense of fresh breath and health. The licorice squares were very small, approximately 1/8x1/8 inches and were sold in a bright yellow tin, approximately the size of a half-dollar. I certainly hope you are not merely relying on my posts about Paris, but are driving (after all, Paris is a fair distance) to the where various boats, planes, trains and automobiles"> are waiting to whisk you away to the City of Lights. Go! Now! Bonne Chance!!

Haute Couture

I'm the kind of person who would rather go out of the house wearing her ratty old Crocs and a pair of jeans that were around for the Vietnam War, than put makeup on and a nice pair of slacks. That being said, I've always had a fascination with the "Avant-Garde" runway fashions I see on TV and the equally "Avant-Garde" lifestyle that seems to come with them. And is there anything more over-the-top than the fashions that strut down the runway? I'm not talking about the always elegant Chanel, nor even a classic Dior suit, nope, I'm not even referring to Cher's favorite Bill Blass' Bling-extravaganzas (as much as I love them). I'm talking about the spaceship/paint-myself-purple-and-wear-a-koala-on-my-head kind of fashions that we are never likely to see on the next door neighbour-lady, nor your haidresser picking up school supplies at the local Target. I remember watching the old movies where the gentleman would take his lady-friend from salon to salon and lovely unsmiling models would parade in front of them in a private showing, so that she could choose her favorites and have them sent to her apartment, without the distress of the masses jostling her and touching the very clothes she hoped to purchase. (Where ARE these men and why don`t they like me?) It's a lovely vision, one I am never likely to star in (keeping in mind my crocs and jeans comment), but the point of all this is when I think of Haute Couture, I think of Paris. And these images are some that I found when I googled Paris Haute Couture. The "H" on Haute is silent, by the way. Repeat after me "(H)aute couture. We could dress like that if we wanted to.

Fairies!

The Random Redhead Challenge at Gingersnap Creations is, drum roll please, FAIRIES! Now I ask you, who among us does not love fairies? And I had an overwhelming urge to make something sprite-like. Perfect timing, eh?
The stamp is from Beautiful Dreamer by RubberStampConcepts (the Curious by Design Collection). I embossed it in silver and distressed ink the background. Then I stamped and silver-embossed another fairy and coloured him (I think it looks like a little boy fairy) a bit with Tombow markers. I cut out some butterfly wings from Lisa's Altered Art and added a bit of stickles. (of course). The background is the Timinator's Bingo embossing folder, distressed, then on top of that is some shiny (from where, I forget) Cuttlebugged (yes, that IS a verb) voile-like paper, on top of that is some ribbon (darn, I forget where that came from too, but it's a really cool company) and on the very top, some ribbon from Webster's Pages. An American Tag brass corner, and one of Tim's charms with a brad finish the whole shebang. Oops! Up top there is some German scrap. And you guessed it, it came from that dark abyss know as "scrapbooking stuff" in my studio.
You know....if I KEPT all the packaging so I could tell you where I got things from, I would have no room for this great stuff.
I'm exhausted from all this writing. Good night. ;-)

Art Creations friday

I was blurfing the other day and found some exciting new-to-me sites. One is Art Creations friday, a challenge blog where you are given an image for the week, to make whatever your little heart desires. It's not a competition, just creating art for the sake of creating art. which is right up my alley. So here is my first attempt at Art Creations friday.
Credit for the background goes to SherrieJD and for the flowers to Danielle Donaldson-both can be found at Scrapartist. Credit for the lovely dress and crown goes to Cemerony

Madame Pompadour

Paris in Jul.y is the perfect excuse for me to feed my ATC addiction. I've spent quite some time searching the Internet for ladies of the Paris Court and had a lovely time making little works of art with their likenesses. So consider yourself warned, you are going to be subjected to A LOT of ATC's of the French nobility!
Today's contribution is Madame Pompadour. I liked the sound of the word "Pompadour", for some reason it makes me think of Liberace's hairdo. A contemporary of Marie Antoinette, she was the mistress of Louis XV (he may have had more, I didn't know him that well). She was born Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson (that is the French word for "fish" by the way, not that it has anything to do with anything) and her father left his family in 1725 when she was four, to escape his creditors. Although she grew up to be well-read, artistic, intelligent and exceptionally graceful-her moderate birth and family history repelled suitors. Finally, her step-father bribed one of his own newphews to propose to her, using a generous marriage settlement as bait.
You've got to love a woman who has had to go through all that!

Challenge #62-Far Out!

This week's challenge at The Order of the Opus Gluei is to create something out of this world/alien-ish. Although everything in me wanted to do something out of my hippee era (Far Out, Man!), I kept myself under control and instead made this ATC keeping in mind what I would be likely to say if I were an alien. Take a look at what our little friend says, and maybe this will inspire you to wander on over to The Order of the Opus Gluei and join us in this week's challenge. Of all the sites I blurf to, this is my favorite! Opus Gluei rocks!
PS. I don't want anyone to think that the poobahs at OG expect you to make anything specific in response to their challenges-the only thing they REALLY want you to do is have fun. And we always do!!

Paris in July-July 3

OK. I have never been to Paris. We've established that. BUT, I have a treasured memory I would like to share with you that's kind of "French" lol
When I was a little girl (REALLY little) I loved to sneak into my mother's room and try out her perfume. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, as she would OBVIOUSLY KNOW I was in there, not having any perfume of my own that didn't smell like toilet water and come in a plastic bottle. (real toilet water, not the infamous "eau de toilette" that was so popular in the 50's)
Anyways, on my mother's dresser, along with her mother's fancy silver engraved comb, brush and hand mirror was this cobalt blue bottle with the label "Evening in Paris". Now I had no idea what "Paris" was. We didn't get a TV until I was six and the shows that were on there had nothing to do with anything fancy like that. But what I DID know was this was something magical. It smelled like something a queen or a princess would wear, (both of which my mother WAS to me at that tender age) and I new it was one of my mother's most treasured possessions.
Here is what I learned about it:
In the year 1929, Borjois Paris developed a perfume called Evening in Paris perfume. This is perhaps one of the most recognized and celebrated perfumes all over the world.
It became an instant success and was perhaps the favorite fragrance during the World War II era. Even now this charming fragrance is a reminder of wartime stories, dance halls, seamed stockings worn by the women in those days and of course the GIs.
And MY MOTHER wore it!
That's my French-ish story for now, I'm off to Thyme for Tea to visit the lengendary city with those who are really there and who HAVE really been there. Maybe one day...

In twenty minutes

(at my house) it will be July 4th.
So this is for my 'Merican friends!

Consider yourself warned.

This is a l-o-n-g post. Not wordy, like I usually am, but there are a lot of photos. Last weekend, I went south (but still in Canada) to take some wildflower photography workshops and of course on the way there and on the way back, my daughter and I had to stop once or twice (or 16 or 20 times) to take some extra shots. It was a perfect weekend, perfect weather and perfect company. Get a cuppa somethin' if you plan to stay with me. Hope you like 'em.

Woo Hoo!

Could life BE any better?

Even though

we spent most of our time on the ground, taking closeups of flowers, every once in a while I would stand up to stretch my back and look at the view.