I'm Home

and creating again.  Gee whiz, I found it hard to not be able to make anything the week I was away. So I shopped instead. lol

Today I combined a couple of challenges and came up with this:

It's an ATC for the Order of the Opus Gluei Challenge #87 Key to My Heart and for Art Creations Friday Challenge #102.

I call it "Why Do I Have To Do All The Heavy Lifting In This Relationship?"

It's good to be home.

(Added later)

When I went over to Art Creations Friday to post my link to the above photo, I scrolled down and learned that I had missed THIS

part of the instructions for this week's challenge.

(sometimes I wonder how I got to be the age I am)

ANYWAYS

(as my mother liked to say dismissively)

Here:

is my second attempt, using ALL of the parts I was supposed to use in the first place.

Can you believe me sometimes?

ROTFLMAO.

Friday Foto Collage

 

Isn't she cute? She's the image I've used from Friday Foto Collage this week.

THIS

 

is her re-incarceration.

In case you think I don't care about my blog anymore, I will tell you that for the last week, I have been 1000 miles away from home, dealing with some family stuff.  I fly home this evening, so the plan is to get back on track blurfing at all my friends' blogs.

Until then................ 

Did you know?

that today is 

Bubblewrap

Appreciation

Day!!

 

Having said that, this is my creation for Take A Word's BOTANICAL Challenge for the week.

Now go pop some bubble wrap.

The Artful Bag Challenge

Frosted Petunias is hosting The Artful Bag Challenge and this is my first creation for the month of January.

I think I'm going to like this.

Under The Sea

This is for Dezinaworld's Spot Prize Challenge

The woman is from Dezinaworld, I've added shells from Sum of All Crafts, and I've used Walter Crane's Neptune's Horses for the background.

They've all kind of been changed up a bit.

I hope you like it.

Friday Fill In

1. So many of us _sell ourselves short_.

2. _Have faith_ even in hardship.

3. Those who are accepting of _their own defects are happier than the rest _.

4. _I'm not sure what_ is waiting quietly.

5. Light is in both the _hallway and the bathroom_.

6. _I'm appreciative_ of all that is ordinary.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _packing and getting some sleep_, tomorrow my plans include _getting up at 3 AM to catch a plane_ and Sunday, I want to _take the ferry back to the mainland_.

There are more here.

Have a good weekend.

Soartful

You know, when I first saw this blog, I struggled with how to pronounce the name.

"Soortful?" "Sortful"?

It wasn't until a week later that I realized it's "So-ART-Ful". 

Duh.
Repeat after me:  So-Art-Ful.

This week's image and challenge are The Artful Journal .

I didn't do an artful journal, I did something else. 

 Just because sometimes I don't follow directions so well.

I made an artful statement.

So there.

The background paper is by Valerie of Sum of All Crafts.  Isn't it gorgous?
Bye, bye.

Make a Scene

If you know me at all, you're probably thinking I made a scene in the grocery store or something.

NOPE;

Not true.

I made a scene for my good buddies at The Order of The Opus Gluei.  Challenge 86: Make a scene.  See, I'm not off my meds, if that's what you're thinking to yourself.

It's actually a page for my art journal, not a political statement.

But I think it's really about me.  I wish I had long flowing hair like that.  I wish I had a pet lion.  I wish I had golden wings.  I wish a had a waist.  Woulda, shoulda, coulda.

Didn't.

But it could happen.

WOYWWED #85

Each week, the Stamping Ground hosts What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday?.

It's a polite way of snooping into other's studios.  I love it.   What am I working on right now?  this:

OK, that's not EXACTLY true.  I'm not working on it right now.  I started it a week ago and life has interrupted.  I haven't been able to create as much as I normally like to.

I haven't been able to blurf AT ALL. :-(

  Oh, well, it all passes, eventually.

I'm trying to make something
"snowlike" on the white page.  I think it's working.  What do you think?

Also:

Here are the page I have ready to scrapbook.  The way I do it is;

1. I sort my photos

2. I match them with the papers.

3. I pull out the odd embellies.

4.  At some point, much much later, I go through them one by one and work my mojo on them.

It works for me.

There must be a hundred in that stack.

Maybe I should quit my job.

Yeah!  That'll work!

(and then I can scrapbook from my cardboard box under the bridge.)

Thanks for looking.

There are many more WOYWWED's here.

Just sayin.

Friday Foto Collage

Peggy Gatto has a relatively new challenge site here and she calls it Friday Foto Collage.

So, you know it's got to do with Fotos, Collages and of course Friday.  Hey, what can I say, I'm university-edukated....

You can't get nothin past me.

Here is the foto she provided:

And here, my friends, is what I've ended up with:

You can click on the foto to see what she's sayin.

Catch ya later.

Butterflies

This week's Take a Word Challenge

Dezinaworld Magic

Dezinaworld's Spot Prize Challenge   has the theme of "Magic" this week. All three faces are from Dezinaworld Collage sheets, and the two inserts are by Valerie of Sum of All Crafts.  At least they were until I pasted Dezinaworld faces over them.  lol

Distress Misting Masks

Linda Ledbetter's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge 27 over at Studio L3 requires spraying and sparkle and I loved it.  I did NOT make a tag, as so many do.  No sireee, I'm doing real paper Scrapbook LO's these days and I wanted to incorporate this into a 12x12 page.  Here it is:

OK, here's the deal.

See the bus?

I found this bus at the Canadian Children's Museum in our nation's capital. 

I LOVED that museum!

And I LOVED that bus!  doesn't it look like it could just take off and fly?

ANYWAYS...

Here is the place on the LO where I did the Distress Misting Mask technique:

See behind our Genteel Tour guide?

There it is.  You should get Tim Hotz's book, you know.

There are nine challenges left and

every single one

will not only expand your artful repetoire,

every single one

will make you smile.

TTFN

FFI 2011-#2

1. Right now I need _a little more sleep_.

2. _Coffee_ is what's in my glass.

3. A copy of this letter _will go into your personnel file_.

4. _A fork_ is best with a spoon.

5. The best movie I've seen lately is _Burlesque_.

6. _Some things I_ like; _some things I_ love.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _safe highways_, tomorrow my plans include _scrapbooking my Ottawa trip from a year ago (!)_ and Sunday, I want to _sleep in_!

Check out more Friday Fill Ins here.

Challenge 100-Woo Hoo!

Art Creations Friday is back

and hosting their 100th challenge! 

And of course, I want to play!

Here is the image they've

given us this week:

What do you think?  Fun, eh?

Here is my contribution:

The flower overlay is by Brandy Murray, the checkered paper is by Kim Meeder, and the cool
"Naughty" word art is by Totally Wild Dezinez.  The rest of the elements are from my overloaded hard drive. 
Did you notice today is THURSDAY?  And this challenge is called ART CREATIONS FRIDAY?

THAT means you have 6 more days to play along.  You have no excuse.  C'mon, it's their 100th.

I'll see you there.

Just because

I don't really have anything intelligent to say today. 

Just thought I should post this LO for no reason at all.

Have a funny day.

Wordless Wednesday

Playin' with Brushes and Textures.

See lots more Wordless Wednesdays here.

KINDNESS

I've been struggling to decide on my word for 2011.  Meditating about it, arguing with myself about it, debating, blah, blah, blah.

Last year's was "mindfulness" and about the only thing I was mindful of was my art.

Well, and the world around me, details about that.   Both of which I appreciate and am grateful for. Not so much about my health or my spirituality.  Which was kind of the plan.

So, long story short, I've chosen "Kindness".

Kindness in the sense of being kind to others.  In the line of work I do, kindness isn't the most important quality I must possess. (In fact, there are times when the opposite is called for.) It is, however, an asset, and when I AM mindful (lol) of that, the benefits are many.  Being more kind to the clients, to my staff, kinder to my colleagues.

This past year, I've made a decision to try to smile more.  At strangers.  Not just people I know.

And it changes everything!  (Well, OK, maybe you all know that already, but it's news to me.)

Kinder to those I love and those I don't love, and maybe most importantly kinder to myself.

I want to take better care of myself,

quit being so hard on myself, accept myself, laugh at myself more.

But baby steps. 

I won't be kind to EVERYONE.

See, it's already working.

Kindness.

Wish me luck.

(PS, the dog's name is Fala and she's one of my grandbabies.  Isn't she sweet?)

Needing a Tropical Getaway

Got your attention, didn't I?

Yes indeedy, from what I'm hearing on the news, there are few among us who could NOT use a tropical getaway just about now.  Except perhaps those who live in the tropics, that is.

And who really CARES about them?

Not me, let me tell you.

The Grand Poobahs at The Order of The Opus Gluei have designated their Challenge #85 as "Needing a Tropical Getaway".  Aren't they sweet?

So I said to myself, "Self?  What the heck are you going to do about this?"  And myself said, "Hey!  We were just perusing (I had to look that up and make sure it wasn't just a word I made up in my own head) those pics from Thailand the other night and I know EXACTLY what to use!!"

OK, a little background.

A few years ago, my girl and I spent almost a month in Thailand.  We started in the south and made our way up to the north and the food got weirder as time went on.  There are WAY less tourists in the north, in fact in one town, they had never seen a couple of blonde women before.  Yes, Virginia, I  used to be blonde. Natural, I might add.  Never mind about that.  Anyhoo, as we neared the end of our adventure, both of us were yearning for good old familiar North American food. I should add here that the day after we landed in Bangkok, we went to a mall and learned that Mcdonald's burgers are made of rice there,

 KFC puts corn in their ice cream,

 and Pizza Hut offers Sushi Pizza.

  Say no more.

The look on my daughter's face pretty much says it all.  We were in the middle of the jungle and if I remember correctly, neither one of us believed we were going to last much longer.

That's my story for this LO.  It's the honest-to-goodness truth.

And I feel so much warmer just thinking about it. 

Don't you?

Rusted Grunge and if you scroll down, Beauty!

Have you done your project for Linda's Compendium of Curiosities challenge at Studio L3 yet? This week it's

Rusted Grunge.

I enjoyed this so much that I did two projects.  First, I needed some horseshoes

for a scrapbook LO about a day we spent in the country:

Can you tell they aren't real horseshoes?

Hah!  I knew you wouldn't be able to.

My second try uses a photo I took myself.

When I had it printed I thought that it was really beautiful.

(no ego here  lol)

THEN Marie's Take A Word challenge this week is

Beauty

So, well, the rest is history.

Can you tell which part is the rusted grunge?

If you can't, you need to sober up.

Here's a close-up:

TTFN

Editorial Comment

It's chilly outside.

Nope, that's ridiculous.

It's

friggin' cold!

Not as cold as a month ago when we were the second coldest spot on earth, mind you, but

cold

nonetheless.

THERE.

I feel much better now.

Vintage Lady

Look at this pretty image provided by Jeannette of Soartful Challenges this week:

I used it in this, which I'm not entirely happy with, but it seems the more I do to it, the less I like it.  Not the image, I love the image.  It's what I've created that doesn't really curl my toes.

Oh well, maybe my mojo went to bed before me tonight.

I DO love all the Parisen elements I've used-they are by Cajoline.

Even though it's not my fav, I'm taking it over to Cindy Atkin's

Creative Spirit Challenge just because I think she has such a pretty blog!

OH!

AND Pink Saturday which I found when I went over to Cindy's blog.

(I'll never get to  bed at this rate.  lol)

Friday Fill-Ins 2011-01

1. It's 2011; I _can't believe I've survived another year!_.

2. I really like_ pickles.

3. Thankfully I have my _cold and flu medication with me at work_.

4. _Peace is one of_ the best things in life.

5. I am so _happy that Friday Fill ins and the other challenge blogs are back_.

6. Life is just a _ bowl _full of cherries_.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _maybe just going to bed early_, tomorrow my plans include _time with friends_ and Sunday, I want to _relax ands get over this cold_!

Art Creations Friday is back.

And this week is their 99th challenge.  How cool is that?  I'm glad I found them.  By the time Thursday of the workweek rolls around, I'm usually too tired to do much of anything except maybe sit at the computer and play with digital art.  So it's perfect for me.

Here is the image we've been given:

and here is what I've done with it:

I can actually sort of kind of tell you what I used this time.  The background and flowers are from the Ophelia Collection which can be found at Scrapgirls.  The whole kit is a totally different colour than it is here though.  The chair and lace behind the chair are by Createwings Designs. I LOVE that chair.  The rest are off my way-too-full hard drive.  See, I told you I knew some of them.

If you go visit Art Creations Friday you too can play with the great images provided.  Maybe check it out.

Thanks for looking!

Wordless Wednesday

If I participate in Wordless Wednesday, that means I don't have to say anthing about this LO.here.

So I shant.

If you don't believe me, go visit them.

Go on

Shoo!

WOYWW?

Well, this week, it's really more like What's on Your Workwall Wednesday.

I just had to show you the awesome shelf my daughter's honey gave me for Christmas.

It's turned me into a Michael's shelving freak though, since loading this baby up, I've bought (she looks around) 4 more pieces for my studio and have spent an inordinate amount of time putting them together.  Maybe later today, I'll show you the kind of thing I'm replacing.

Suffice it to say, the movers, when I came into my condo, referred to my studio as "You mean the circus room?"

See proper What's on Your WORKDESK Wednesdays here.

The Work of the Glue-#84

If you are scratching your head at my post title, go here.

It's a new year, it's a new challenge and the new challenge is to do something new.

(That should be a song)

The new thing I've done is re-colouring a photograph.

The photo is of yours truly, maybe in, oh, let's say 1957 or so.

And that is my very own firetruck.

If you click on the picutre, you'll see my little foot on the pedal, and notice how I am ringing the bell.  You may or may not believe this, but I actually remember driving that thing up and down the cul-de-sac, ringing the bell to bring everyone out of their homes so I could show them.

I especially remember an elderly gentleman who made such a fuss over me.

And my firetruck, of course.

Well, mainly the firetruck.

But it was so cool!!!!

OK, back to the matter at hand.

The photo was black and white, well, to be honest, yellow and white now, and I wanted the truck to be red.  So I made it red.  then I thought my little sundress should be blue.  so I made it blue.  and so on.

Granted, it's my first attempt at this sort of thing.

but the Poobahs over at Opus Gluei said "Try something new" and gosh-darnit, I did.

So there.

Go tell them I did.

They're waiting.

Here.

Zetti

This week's word at Take A Word is

ZETTI.

I've never done Zetti and I had a blast making this.  The figure in the centre is my Zetti character.  The others are just her friends.

On second thought, the one on the right would be a "friendemy".

She's planned to scoop her main squeeze.

Hence, her stance and her declaration.

Of love.

OK, now that you've seen mine (and wondered why I haven't taken my medication today),

pop on over to Take A Word and check out the terrific sample that Bill has provided for inspiration.

(PS, the majority of the elements are from Crowabout Studios-

You can find them and other cool stuff at Scrapartist.)

I got my photos done!

Yay Me!!

A couple of times I got a wee bit sidetracked.

Here are a couple of the ones I got sidetracked with.

and this:

and finally, this:

Good night.

You wanna know why I haven't been around?

BECAUSE

I've made a decision to edit and print all the photos that I haven't edited and printed.

That's over 1000.

But I'm almost done.

This is a Quick Page, by Downunder Studios.

The child and cat are mine, the "valance" at the top and the crowns are by Fiddlette, and the birds in the sky are a brush I downloaded from Brusheezy.

OH yeah, the word art is from the ubiquitous Internet.

Thanks for looking.

Catch ya later!

Happy New Year!

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