More Hand Carved Stamps

Another busy weekend and Monday has arrived much too quickly again. We got a lot of rain this weekend, and I saw a rainbow. The strange thing is that I saw the rainbow before the storm. I think it must have been the back of someone else's, but that didn't make it any less beautiful.

You may have to click on the photo to make it bigger in order to see it.

We invited the kids and their families for dinner last evening, but the son already had plans. But he did send Miss K along with Dana and her two. I made a big meatloaf with mashed potatoes and corn and I'd purchased an apple pie at Meijer's earlier in the day. We had a lovely meal together - I think it is that time of year to make this a biweekly plan.

The Tigers have now won the first two games from the Yankees in the ALDS and the best thing is that they won them at Yankee Stadium. Winning away from home is generally more difficult than winning at home. The next two games will be in Detroit - wish I had the means to get a couple of tickets so I could take the hubster and my new 20x camera.

I didn't get much art time this weekend. On Saturday I attended the Wizard of Oz with my friend Carol. It was put on by the Town Hall Players in Stockbridge and it was delightful. I'd never been to a local theater production before and I was quite impressed by it all. Ms. Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West was played by a former SIL of Carol's and I was asked to take a photo of them afterward.

After dinner and the Tiger game, I retired to my room to do a bit of carving. I carved a feather and a glass.

This morning I have my conditioning class followed by the core floor exercises and then I have another handmade journal to put in the post (thanks, Sherrie). Later I have to go to Best Buy to return a battery they told me would work in place of the Canon one for my new camera - it doesn't. And then later this afternoon I have a Friends of the Library meeting. I hope to make some time for art in there somewhere.

What about you? What are you up to today? Does it include time for the creative you? If so, do share,

xoxo

Stamping and a New Art Journal

My current art journal is nearly full, so while a recent page was drying I went through my stash of used books and  chose a new one. I think I showed you a couple of pages that I'd begun last week. Over the weekend I decided this one was going to be a Faces book. I haven't drawn faces in quite a long time and am losing my touch. Here is the outside of the book.

I haven't decided whether to use watercolor ground or gesso to get a background that I can do some artwork on in order to have the cover reflect what is inside.

And here are the first few pages. 

I also found some time yesterday evening to carve a couple of stamps. I still need to carve a better face stamp, but so far am working on other things. Here is a window stamp that I enjoyed carving.

And I am trying to use up the pieces of rubber I've cut off my earlier stamps. The first one is a tall, skinny house. I really like this one.

And the next one was just a freehand shape that I see is grasses. I was just trying for a random pattern that would look good as background.

Yesterday afternoon after Miss Z was picked up by her Daddy, the hubster and I drove into town for a walk. On the way we stopped at DD's house to drop off the Sunday paper and see the girls for a little visit. And then we took a stroll along the River Walk in downtown Jackson. We parked at the Toy House and walked a couple of blocks up to the Armory Arts Project where the path actually begins. I took a few pix on the way that I thought you might enjoy.

This morning I am going to my conditioning class followed by floor core work and then I am planning to come home and make some kind of soup with the produce I got at the farm on Friday. I am hoping to get a bit of house cleaning done and then play for awhile in my art room (which desperately needs a pick up and sweep itself).

What about you? What do you have planned for the day? Can you believe it is October??? Are you going to be able to have some time to play? Will you be making art? Do share.....

xoxo

Carving Stamps and Art Journaling

It was a very busy weekend with little Miss Z. I must say her vocabulary has exploded over the past couple of weeks. She is extremely vocal and quite easy to understand in most cases. I particularly love how if she bumps herself or falls down, she either comes over with knitted brows with the injured part to be kissed or quickly says, "OK!" And she is becoming quite a little tease with a nice sense of humor. Though I will surely miss the baby stage, this little girl stage is quite endearing.


Yesterday after I took her home, I went to Michael's to buy a few things. For one thing, I was out of Gel Medium (I swear as fast as I go through it, I should be buying gel large!! :-) ) and I wanted to try to find some clear gesso. I was successful in finding each, but I had to get Liquitex for both as they didn't have any Golden in stock. This will be my first time using gel medium that is not Golden and I will let you know how it goes. I also had to try some of the new Liquitex spray paint that is water based. I read about it on someone's blog and knew I had to try it. It is quite expensive so I didn't get lots of it, but I had a coupon so it seemed like a good time to try it. I hope to work with that today and show you the results tomorrow. It is supposed to be low odor and lightfast with easy clean up.


 Before I left, I worked a bit more on the two pages I shared last time, but because I'd run out of gel medium, I used PPA, a medium that I particularly like, but apparently I left it too wet because when I put the waxed paper over it to weight the glued pieces a part of one of them came off on it.

I then spent some time looking for images to carve and found a lovely lily pad that I liked so that is what I tried. Here is the beginning of a two page spread.

And here is what the stamp looks like. Now I think I have to find a small frog image to try.

I told you about my estimated delivery for the new camera I ordered. I did some more research and found there was a Canon (my favorite camera brand to date) with a 20x optical zoom with a better rating overall that was about the same price and was in stock. I cancelled the Minolta and ordered the Canon and am expecting delivery in about a week.

Here is what it looks like:

And here are the features:

Product Features

Color: Green

• 12.1 MP High-Sensitivity CMOS sensor, DIGIC 5 Image Processor
• 20x Optical Zoom, 25mm Wide-Angle lens, and Optical Image Stabilization
• 1080 Full HD video in stereo sound with a dedicated movie button
• Smart AUTO with 58 predefined shooting situations with new FACE ID, High-Speed Burst HQ for continuous capture at a maximum of 10 frames
• GPS tracker to record image locations on a map via Canon's software
• 3-inch LCD display
• And it only weighs 8.2 ounces

I can't wait to try it and will share the experience with you.


Meanwhile, today I have my conditioning class followed by the core on the floor segment, after which I hope to spend some time out in the hubster's workshop trying out my new spray paints in my art journal. Later today I am picking up Miss P at school and we are going to spend a couple of hours together while her sister is at dance class. This will be our routine on the last Monday of each month while she is in school. I may take her to the new Scrapbooking place on M-60 to get some ideas for her poster making and art journaling.


What about you? What do you have planned for the day? Does it include some kind of creative activity? Do share.....


xoxo

Stamp Making and Art Journal

Did you see that moon last evening? I'll bet it will be as lovely tonight. Actually, according to one of the announcers at the US Open last evening, the moon will not actually be considered full until tonight. And speaking of the US Open, did you catch that spectacular second round match between V. Williams and A. Kerber? Maybe the best women's tennis match I've ever watched. Definitely glad I stayed up to watch it to the end.

 I put some finishing touches on the houses pages I was working on and am happy with them, especially the white gel pen journaling.

And my order from Nasco arrived and I carved a couple of stamps. I think I am getting better at it.

Another busy day planned.  The conditioning class is having a floor session for core training afterward this morning. Then I will stop at Pregitzer's to pick up my produce. I need to get to Mason some time today to make a deposit to my bank account, and then have a chiropractic appointment in Stockbridge late this afternoon. I hope to see immediate results from my adjustment. One or both of us needs to get to a store to pick up supplies for the cookout we are having on Sunday. Both kids are coming and bringing their kids.

For now I am going to get a second mug of coffee and read the blogs to which I subscribe. What are you doing today? Does it include some "me" time? Do you have plans for the big weekend? Are you going to find time to do something arty? Do share.....

xoxo

Patterns, Stamps, Photography Blog and A Great Shop

On Wednesday I finally drove to Spring Arbor to check out the Scrapbooking/Stamping/Altered Art Supply store called Altered Art Addict. It looks quite small from the outside, but it is jam packed with product plus a work room. I was impressed with the young lady who was in charge that day. Her name was Katelyn and her Mom and Grandmom are co-owners. Katelyn is a senior in high school and is planning on a career in graphic design. We had a great conversation while she showed me around and shared her love for all things art. I will definitely be going back there, perhaps with the two older grandgirls to pick out some supplies and maybe work a bit in their lovely space. They didn't have the cling foam stuff I was looking for and now I am glad they didn't. I've been convinced that would be a mistake and am looking into alternative methods of stamping with or without actually mounting the handmade stamps. And I am happy and surprised to report that I didn't spend any money on supplies that I don't really need, but what a wonderful store - so much more to offer in their area of expertise than the chain stores.


I have cut a few more stamps, none that I am particularly in love with, but I will share them with you.

As you can see, they need some cleaning up. There are two different sized houses and a small plant that started out as pussy willows, but transformed into a more homogeneous group.

While trying to decide on designs for stamping, I played around with Photoshop and tried my hand at a repeating design and came up with one that I really am pleased with.

It's been a really long time since I've wasted time played with Photoshop in this manner. I've missed it!

I have a new (to me) blog to share with you where the photography is so impressive it took my breath away. It is called Et Oyeblikk and I've been given permission to use her photos as references for my sketches. Here is what I've started with. This is just a quick sketch. In the original photo the sky is so big and beautiful with lots of clouds. I think I need to add some clouds and color to try to capture this better.

And, last but not least, I've finally attempted to add a boat to my watercolor work in progress. I think it is pretty basic and should probably be a darker color. It is more dark brown than the blackish I was hoping for. I do think it offers a bit of balance that was missing, though.

Another busy day planned - conditioning class at 9:30 with a stop at Pregitzer's Farm Market for my biweekly produce; followed by a shower and lunch and then a trip into Jackson to the Red Cross to donate a pint of blood. After that I am meeting up with my daughter and her girls to do a bit of school shopping. I think it will be a great day. I hope to fit in some time for artiness later in the day and/or evening.

What do you have planned for the day? Are you finding time to be creative? Do you have a blog to tell me about? Yours or one that belongs to someone else that you think I would love? Do share.....

xoxo

Heron AB Spread and Some Stamp Ideas

Zoë is here and is so much fun, but so busy. I haven't spent any time at all in the art room until this morning while she is napping. I found some images online that I thought would make good stamps and have arranged them in Photoshop and printed them out. Sometime later today I will try carving a couple of them. I am especially interested in making a quarter of a repeating image and some long border patterns. I'll share them when I get them made.

Meanwhile, I just added a bit of light blue sky and some dark blue water, along with some green leafy shapes to the heron spread in my altered book/art journal and I rather like it.

I think that while Miss Z is sleeping I need to go get out my yoga mat and some hand weights and get this body moving. Maybe I should have breakfast first, though. Miss Z will be here until about 3 PM, at which time I hope to do some carving. With any luck I will have some new stamps to share with you tomorrow.

When I mentioned the cling foam to attach to the back of my homemade stamps, I got several comments both on the blog and as a separate email. Most people recommended finding a product online and checking for the best price including shipping and handling. I did have a strong recommendation to stay away from those kind of products as they would ruin the stamp making it all gooey. Can I hear from more of you who have used this kind of product on your stamps? I'd really like to hear more before making a decision.

What are you doing today? Does it include some time in your creative zone? Will you share with us?

xoxo

Missed Opportunities and Stamp Making

Yesterday didn't turn out at all like I was expecting it to. I waited too long to get ready to drive into town to volunteer at the used book store so didn't have a back up plan when I got there only to find the Book Cellar was closed due to construction. It appears that volunteers are not important enough to get a call so they don't drive 25 miles round trip for nothing. If I hadn't been rushed, I would have packed my camera and/or my iPad. In that case I could have spent some time doing a bit of arty stuff - taking reference photos for future sketches or getting caught up on internet stuff. Instead I stopped by the daughter's for a brief visit and then came home and completely dunned out the laundry room.


The laundry room at my house tends to be the "holding" place for all things without a good home. There was so much stuff in there, I just couldn't stand it any more. Actually I did clean it out once before (not quite as thoroughly as this time), but somehow the stuff to be given away or thrown away found its way back in there. This time it is going to stay this streamlined. It actually looks like a nice room now. I need to go through the stuff that is piled on the seat in the entrance and decide what is to be thrown and what needs to be packed up to go to Goodwill and then do it.


The St. Vincent de Paul fellas came out yesterday to pick up the couch and chair I had replaced in the living room. They also took my old vacuum cleaner with attachments and two old recliners that I'd forgotten we had in the basement. I so love clearing out.


I didn't spend much time in the art room yesterday, but did manage to make a stamp. I still feel rather inept at this, but I am enjoying the experience. It is rather Zen and surely with practice I will get better at it. Here are my practice stamps in my journal. These pages need some color and layers, but I do like my heron.

I'd like to find a good source of some kind of cling mount so I could use my acrylic block for stamping. It seems to make a better image. I've tried Hobby Lobby and Michael's with no luck. Do you have a good source for this kind of product?

I am planning to go to my conditioning class this morning. I must say, I am a bit sore from Monday's session and am looking forward to today's. Miss Z is arriving this afternoon for an overnight, so if I am to do some art, I'd better do it between conditioning class and her visit.

What are you planning for today? Does it include time for your art? If so, do share.....

xoxo