Showers Bring Flowers

As some of you that know me are aware, I really got started with paper arts by going to a Scrapbook party at my DIL home years ago. I had just really started stamping, and liked the combination of the 2.

However, I hadn't scrapbooked in years until Cheryl called and asked me to be on the Creative Imaginations Design Team......so I'm using photos of the Grandkids to make some fun pages and use all my other ART stuff.





This is Erin at her new house in front on their park bench with a colorful umbrella. The shot just screamed for Petaloo Flowers!!!!!!!!!! And they matched perfectly. The Luminarte Radiant Rain and Twinkling H2O's were used on the Maya Road letters and the Black Doily paper. The Blue Pearl RR spray on the black paper is really great in person...photo does not show the metallic shine well.


The white pen marks made the papers pop. And of course, Distress Inks had to be used on all the edges to add just a bit more color.


May 1st is National Scrapbook Day so go take a peek at the CI blog and get some inspiration...(Erin's page is over there with all the details on product).

~

Have a great day...I'm going to be in the GARDEN!!!!

Rollin' On The River

This is the Mighty Mississippi at night on Canal Road under the I-80 bridge to Illinois. It's gorgeous and the picture doesn't do it justice, but I tried the new camera's night setting and played with it a bit.

We were up in the Quad Cities again to see the Grandson Alex in The Music Man this week. Here is one proud Dad with the Conductor/Constable in the play. It was great to see him actually kick up his heels and dance! FUN!

The afternoon was free, so we tripped on over to the Antique Archaeologists, home of the Pickers, and ran into Danielle. She dances in a Burlesque show, too....Wonder how many people see me in this shot?!?!?!?! Yes I'm really there, too! What a neat gal! Frank and Mike would be lost without her.

This is a cool display there.

I loved this arrangement of vintage things. Have no clue what they really are.

The front of the the shop has several vintage motorcycles.

This piece is behind the desk. Great color combination.

I thought my daughter would get a kick out of this as she works for Phillip Morris. "Call for Phillip Morris!!!!"

This is a really cute little place along the main drag in LeClair where I went shopping for jewelry and Carmel corn.

This is a great restaurant The Crane and the Pelican. The shop owner also owns Artworks where I bought my ring. Very Vintage. Love old architecture.

Another wonderful trip. Did not get to Galena as it rained the next day and it's not a lot of fun there in the rain for me. We'll get there another time.

So until I have something of interest to show you....be well and be good to each other!

~

Your Friend in ART

~Linda

We're Off Again

Had lunch with the Watercolor Chicks yesterday. A late celebration of my BDay.
Biaggi's is one of our favorite haunts. Terrific Tiramisu!!!

Then Coffee at Eli's with Deb in the afternoon. I WANT her shirt. It was too cool.

And Erin came with to have frozen hot chocolate..that's an oxymoron isn't it?
And her favorite butterscotch treat.

We're going to see "the Boy", Alex in his HS Musical...The Music Man tonight. It's opening night and they're having a party at their house afterwards. For some strange reason, they've built a boat in the living room. Picture is from a cell phone, so it's not as clear, but WAY fun to see!

Michelle probably told me the story behind it, but it escapes me. This picture is Brit in the boat with the shark.

Interesting. They really did a great job on this work of ART!!!! Anybody need sailboat with holes to walk around in when they're done with it?????

Have a great day!!!! And Don't Forget to Play!!!!

Linda

More Pictures and a Diorama

Erin's diorama project complete with the bell on the corner of the lot! Notice it's dark out, and when we started it was about 3PM...finishing time 5 hours later.....
More pictures from Saturday's class sent in from Charlene....the mean old teacher demoing Distress Inks.

They all got several pieces of different colors of metal to practice on and play with before hitting the project piece. Here is Beth, hard at work!

This is the "Sistas" working with metal, Cari and Lori!

Don't cha love it when they read the instructions!!!! Really!!!!!!

And these are the Twins, Diane and Deb...or was it Deb and Diane. I'm doing well to even remember their names! Worked very hard on the metal! Great job!!!!

After we got home yesterday, we worked on Erin's project. And I mean WORKED!

BUT, we made it more pleasant by watching 5 episodes of GLEE that I had on the DVR player. Somehow that eased the pain and released the creativity! At least it covered up the moans of mistakes and the "oops!"

She had to choose a building in Morton to make. The High School has very little character going for it, so it was hard to make interesting, but we did our best. She did a really good job!!!

AND.......Check out Charlene's great buttons...they are too cute.... http://charleneeaster.blogspot.com/!!!!! Thanks again Charlene and everybody!

Have a great week!

Fun Classes at Scrapaganza!!!!

Is this not the sweetest picture of mom and daughter. She came to get mom and helped display her great wallets she made.


More Inky and happy fingers at the end of the day.

Caught them when they weren't looking....still in the process of creating.

More fabulous works of ART!!!!

Group shot! Cari (sp?) and Lori the 2 sitting are sisters. What a hoot. By the end of the day, the sibling rivalry is so much fun to listen to...and they're projects are so different. Great job, girls!

Check out Charlene's little handmade button. Come back tomorrow or so and I'll give you the link to her stuff. THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!! Thanks for my special gift!

We definitely had great projects done at the end of class.

More Grungy goodness.....

Thanks to all the great staff at Scrapaganza, you make it so easy for me to teach there. Your help was greatly appreciated!!!!

And a big thanks to Eileen, who originally came up with the wallet idea in Grungepaper form...she's extremely talented and gave her blessing to me to teach this idea in Grungeboard form. I did not get pictures of the 2nd class, sorry, and I'm terrible with names, but I always remember your little faces!!

*

And after class we took a leasurely stroll along the river. This is the lift they use to put the boats in and out of the water. That way they can store lots and lots of boats in layers in the marina.

Just a couple of little shacks on the Illinois side. There's a little house to the left of these that could fit in the living room of the big ones. (it got cropped out of the picture, sorry.) It's one of the original homes before the rich and famous decided they wanted to live along the Mississippi.

This used to be a Dram shop, where they sold liquor a hundred years ago along the river. This is what I was told. Then someone bought it and made it into a home...it took lots of time and money I'm sure! But I LOVE it.

A peaceful spot to sit and watch river and highway traffic.

So goodnight from LeClair Iowa, next to the Captain's Quarters along the Mighty Mississippi River.

Another Beautiful Day

Is this a gorgeous picture of the blooming Crab Apple Trees along the Mississippi River or what????? WOW. They are all along the riverfront and just beginning to bloom. I thought I would miss the best of my 2 at home, but I'll be seeing them here instead.

Dropped by Scrapaganza today to leave a few things. THE WALLET CLASS IS FULL!!! There are only a couple of spots left in the Tool Caddy class in the afternoon.

Had the BEST pizza in the world at Frank's. It truly is one of our favorite spots and has been for years. No one can even come close to this pizza back in our little town.

Back to the river motel and the balcony to enjoy the view of the river barges and a few brave (or foolish) souls on the river that is still full of junk and pretty high. We are staying right next to the Dry Stack that we kept our boat at for many years.

So Bill can keep an eye on the operations from our balcony. He loves it. I know WE would NOT be in that river at this date....way too many trees still floating along.

I'll take pictures of the class tomorrow....come back and see the projects....Lori and her sister are too cute to miss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great weekend!!!!!

Packing Up and Ready to Go!

Tomorrow we're hitting the bricks for the Quad Cities. A bit of shopping, teaching a couple of classes at Scrapaganza (still a few spots left they say) and hanging out with relatives and friends on the river.

We're getting the yard mowed today (poor Bill has owed 4 times now!) and the yard art out in the garden. My daughter gave me these really cool solar lights that are beautiful at night with the crystal reflections! LOVE them and went and got more.

Easily amused.

This is last years picture of the Columbine....the blue one is one of my faves.

Got our tomato plants yesterday and 2 for Emma. Last year when she was just 4, she kept seeing the Topsy Turvy commercial and telling her dad that she wanted them and they were "only $19.95. Must be 18 to order."

How many 4 year olds ask for tomato planters????? But she LOVES tomatoes, so Poppie bought her 2.

The Flowering crab trees will be at their best while we're gone. So the neighbors can enjoy them. They should be great this year with all the rain.

Everyone have a great weekend....we're starting early tomorrow. Might even get back to Antique Archeology and take some pictures....you never know.

I'll try to remember to take pictures of the class and the river!!!!

Lost Blog Roll - My 400th Post

The top person at the time on my blog roll had their blog hijacked....so I tried to delete the blog from mine........as it happens, it deleted the entire blog roll. This is the 2nd time this has happened!!!!

So now I'm trying to remember all the people on the list. It might have changed, but I'll get them all back sooner or later.

Things happen....at least I didn't loose the entire blog!

Love Technology!

L

A Fun Door Hanger for Erin

These flowers called Dazzlers of all shapes and colors come from Petaloo. The green and brown Glitter Paper is on Mulberry paper that cuts great with Tim's new dies Alterations!!! The wooden hanger is Bare Elements and the background mica paint is Luminarte sprays and dabbers. The photo does not show how sparklie it really is. I added a few Grungeboard crowns for balance.

This is a door hanger for Erin's new room in her new house. What a great place!!!!!!! The house is a warm and wonderful home in a matter of days.

However, Emma, the younger sister, loves to drive Erin crazy by taking things, and using and hiding her stuff. Ahhhhh, little sisters. This won't stop her, but it was fun to make.

We made Erin a Treasure chest for Christmas, complete with a combination lock to keep Em at bay.........you can't put your whole room in a lock box though.

Another beautiful day, there's nothing prettier than a spring garden. And this year the plants are really coming up fast! The Columbine is ready to bloom.

And the rabbits are feasting on the Hostas...until I sprayed with the nasty smelling Invisible Fence stuff....it doesn't hurt the rabbits....it is actually rotten eggs and it smells just like them until it dies.

Have a great week!

Great Day-Antiques at the Pickers!

Just a sampling of the vintage finds and reproductions I got yesterday on our Road Trip.

Yesterday was a really fun day. Got to have lunch with my Sister and Brother-in-law and then visit with the girls at Scrapaganza. Dropped off some samples of the classes for next Saturday. What a terrific shop they have...and lots of new stuff all over the place!

Then we went Antiquing and shopping in LeClair Iowa. Picked up a few cool little things down on the river.

AND went to the famous home of "The Pickers." If you watch the History channel, these guys go all around and get antiques, fix them up, and then sell them to dealers on American Pickers. Mike was in town so it was really interesting to listen to him talk about some of their adventures.

They were working on an old bicycle at the time. A really cool lamp was in the office that will be on an upcoming show. I found some small tin-types for sale and snatched them up.

~

Then to top off the day, we had dinner with Micki, Carlo, Brit and Alex at Los Agaves. Really good time there.........of course the kids HAD to have them sing to me while I wore the Mexican hat. (Had to be at least 10 of the waiters and staff) But the desert they brought was worth it! The kids took pics to put up on facebook of me in the hat....I've yet to see them. whew!

And just as the day was ending, we got home and there was another "box of goodies" to play with.

Life is Good!

Thanks for all the Facebook, emails and comments on the blog wishing me a Happy Birthday. I was overwhelmed!

Good Morning World!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm another day older but not deeper in debt...you have to be old to know what that's from!!!!!!!!!! Grandkids won't get it!

No pictures today....we're off for a Road Trip to shop, eat, see the kids, and stop into Scrapaganza in Davenport Iowa where I'll be teaching next weekend!

For a real treat, go visit Tim's blog....click over on the right....he's has 4, yes 4 videos on how to use his new Alterations dies!!!


Have a great day....I know we will!

Milly - A Vintage Layout

My husband's mother Mildred.

The Velvet Roses and Butterflies are wonderfully vintage.

A little Tea Dye Distress Ink is added across the butterfly to show the embossing.

This is a layout of my husband's mom circa 1920's. Her family were miners and so the formal clothing was a bit out of caracter for her. I love this photo and wanted to be able to see it preserved.

The papers are from Creative Imaginations and I used the new Thin Wood Birch to die cut the butterfly and trim inside the photo. The Cuttlebug works great with this new product to cut and emboss.

I LOVE the Velvet Roses and Butterflies from Petaloo!!! So elegant and truly vintage looking. The other flowers are Color Me Crazy and Celebrations. You can create any color you want with the Color Me Crazy flowers. Ink, paint, stamp, glitter....the possibilities are endless.

Well, the move is over, but the picture hanging and the 3, yes 3, shower curtains, numerous window colverings, and a million toys are getting into place. It is a fabulous home, and they never had to have ONE open house. Unbelievable!!!

Maybe I can get back to my artwork now. Shipments of STUFF are arriving every few days. So I should have no excuse not to do something!!! The birdcage project was fun....have to wait to show that to you later.

The new Tim Idea-ology things are FABULOUS!!!!! Need I say more?????

Tornado season is here, so the hot and wonderful days sometimes end with a wicked storm and downpours at night. Ya gotta live somewhere, but here it's always something.

Be well, be good to each other, and Create ART!

L

Happy Easter

I seemed to have forgotten to show you Emma hunting her Easter eggs from a previous year in one of my Creative Imaginations DT projects.

This was using the Felicity line on a wooden frame. I added Distress Inks....can't be without them...and black Glaze pen marks and stamping to make the colors pop.

The stickers and chipboard pieces from CI match up beautifully. I love the big Color Me Crazy flower from Pelaloo behind the bird. It was inked, pen lined, and stamped. The opportunities are endless with these flowers. (If you want to see some incredable work with flowers, click here and look at the new DT works. They are a remarkably talented group of ladies!)

The white chipboard brings out wonderfully bright and clean Distress Inks for about any color you want. I used the new Chipped Sapphire and Wild Honey as well as the old standby Peeled Paint. Mixing colors also works great when you need that "exact" color to go with your project.

We went out last night to celebrate the end of "the move" for the kids. I'm too old for this!!!! Ribs and Tiramasu....with a Wine and Advil chaser.

Works for me!

Happy Easter...............Hope Jerry the Easter Bunny has a good day, too.

Word Stick Earrings

Had some fun playing with the Birdcage Die over the weekend using it on several different surfaces. Here I added Tiara Stickles to make it glitzy!

The Word Stick earrings were really fun to make. I punched a hole using the 2 hole screw punch to add a chain link from the Link Chain.

To add the link, hold both sides with the 2 pliers, and open pulling one to the front and one to the back . This keeps the integrity of the shape of the link. Then just roll it back after you add your beads.

The beads are on an eye pin, and I used a wrap to make the loop. You could add Alcohol Ink to the Word Stick or Acrylic paint in the word itself to add color if you choose.

Enjoy the day...the move went really well...we're sore all over, but glad it had no Whammies!