The Seattle Report, part ll

My days have been very relaxing. I get up and have coffee made in the percolator-the way of my first childhood coffee-drinking, when my paternal grandmother would pour a tall glass of milk and when I'd consumed half, filled it back up with coffee and added sugar. I still like milk and sugar. I remember knowing my grandfather was awake by smelling the coffee. I was an early, early riser but knew to give him time to read a bit of the newspaper before I went down to the kitchen. I sensed he liked some quiet time alone to start his day.
I check out the Today show and read while I savor the coffee. I've read two books so far. The Appeal by John Grisham, and Hold Tight by Harlan Coban. Nothing like some light reading!
The Seattle weather has finally caught up with me. I have been so lucky on all prior trips, regardless of the time of year, to have nice weather. Not this time, so I haven't been my adventurous self. I really hate a cold, windy rain and prefer to be cozy inside.
I did, however, venture out, my first time driving in Seattle, to pick Amy up at UW and head to one of my favorite stops, Impress Rubber Stamps . I bought a new background stamp, two ink pads, which they re-ink for free, some cute, tiny epoxy heart stickers, and a dot and line stencil for paper piercing or doodling. I love to look around and get ideas. They do some fun things and I always get an idea of something new to do with supplies I already have.
I bought two cheery primrose for Amy and she bought me a great clay bird for my yard for my birthday. Next stop was Miro, I want to own a business like this. We had a pot of Golden Oolong tea and an apple and basil panini. Yum!
Next stop-Cupcake Royale, again. I feel my arteries clogging even as I write. Oh, I stopped in for a free cholesterol check at the drug store yesterday. A non-fasting finger stick test put me a bit over 200, what was I thinking doing one of those on vacation?? Today's flavors for us were, Mo Fro, Vanilla Lavender, and Red Velvet.
Can you say "yummy"?
Back to the apartment for a rainy afternoon of reading.
Dinner was homemade Pad Thai and Gyoza. Another treat.
The last two nights we've played rounds of speed Scrabble. I like it because it is fast and sometimes I have to completely rearrange my letters, I love a challenge. You turn all tiles upside down, each drawn 7 and turn them over at the same time and as soon as one person has arranged and used all of their own letters, they say "draw" and everyone takes another letter. Each works on their own "board". The first to use all they had to draw is the winner.
Tomorrow is the Seattle Art Museum. I also spied a paper store I want to explore near there.

Sounds of the Sound, my travel journal

I can't upload a picture, because my computer won't connect here for some strange reason, but I will add it at some time. I love to go to Peugeot Sound for a variety of reasons. Yesterday we went to Pike Place Market, a favorite of mine. I wanted a halibut sandwich at Market Grill. I've had at least one every visit here. Rachel loves them, too, so I had no trouble convincing the "girls" to go to the market on our only day together. It was nice enough to eat outside overlooking the sound. The seabirds are entertaining there and I love to watch the cargo ships head out and the ferries come and go to the small islands nearby.
I sampled chocolate-dipped, Washington cherries and purchased some for my sweet neighbor who has loaned us an extension cord the two times we have been without power in the last 5 months, bought sweets at Three Girls Bakery (raspberry scone, chocolate drops and lemon ginger cookie), smelled lavender sachets, feasted on the beautiful tulip bouquets, bought soap from a soaper, Seattle Rainwater Soap Co.,I hadn't seen before ( Mosaic soap-lovely browns, Classic Trails-an evergreen, and Ginger Zest with lime.) Beautiful 3" rounds. The fish monger calls to potential customers are everywhere.
We headed to the Sculpture Garden, pics later, which is also on the sound several blocks away. The sound I loved there was the difference between the surf retreating on rocks instead of sand. I recorded it on my iphone. It has such a lovely, melodic ripple. I took a picture of myself mirrored in a shiny sculpture there and got a great picture of the Space Needle seen through a Calder sculpture, too.
From there we headed to Vital Leaf Tea Company for an afternoon tea tasting. With lovely music in the background, we sampled about 10 teas, served in beautiful tiny cups with white interiors, which I have decide is vital for appreciating the beautiful colors of teas, from white to deep pumpkin orange. We savored every tiny cup, ooing and ahing, over the Dragon Well Green at 240.00 a pound, Ginsing Oolong, Siberian Rose, White Peony, Jasmine Pearl,Blueberry Red, Monkey Pick- good for digestion at 180.00 a pound,Lychee Black,Chrysanthemum, Golden Throat Ginsing (Amy had a sore throat). I bought two ounces of Lychee black and Siberian Rose for us to enjoy this week as a treat. Tim, our host, also included a small packet of Osmanthus to add to the rose to enhance the flavor. He used leaf Stevia in some of the teas when brewing. I found out that green tea should be brewed for a brief 10 seconds with water at a temperature of 165 degrees. Americans, in general, are brewing tea for toooo long. I bought a little white, handle-less cup at the World Bazaar across the street to enjoy it in. The girls have two white sake cups. A trip to Trader Joe's for chai tea mix, chocolate Joe Joe's, completed the trip.

And then there are these cute pincushions!

An even easier cute one from Sage Mommy. Dec 4, 2008 post

Day starters

Since my artwork is limited these days, I thought I'd share some others aspects of myself. I start my day with these blogs on my igoogle home page. I get to a lot of others during the day especially while I'm on a "sort of" vacation. I have a great time going to the Crafty Crow everyday for kid fun! I also start my day checking out Yogi's blog and my dear friend, Sue's blog. She finds the coolest things and is the coolest person I know. Sue inspires my spirit, Yogi, my creativity, and the Crafty Crow, the child in me. Enjoy! The picture is just for fun-Ezra's 4th birthday, celebrated yesterday! Can you see him?

Teacup Pincushions

I loved this Martha Stewart craft of the day today, I have to go in search of wool sweaters at Goodwill!

Valentine Countdown

These are the final days of Lisa Vollrath's Valentine Countdown of printables. Check it out.

CBH Gold challenge

This week's Created Byhand Challenge is to use gold. I happened to have a few gold elements pulled out so created this atc. The front and window are from a card I received that I cut atc size for later use (today!). That is mounted onto an atc size alcohol ink background that also uses gold leafing pen. I stamped this tree from Quietfire Designs with embossing ink and heat embossed with Pirate Gold ep. If I could write I would have written the quote "Love is a sheltering tree" on the front as well.

two more atcs

Enough for today! I used two backgrounds I had in my stash. I love the red-orange one, i did it with paint and paper towel, it feels like felt.

Left-handed art!

This is my left-handed art for the CBH challenge for this week. Also will work for the byhandartists monthly atc swap for February's love theme. I decided a simple background was crucial so I did an 8 1/2 x 11 glossy page with alcohol inks, eggplant, wild plum, and cranberry, a little silver leafing pen and some blending solution added in the shape of hearts (not too noticeable). The quote is from Quietfire Design, my latest purchase, stamped with Stazon, Jet Black. Heart stamp is unknown source and stamped with VersaColor Amethyst.

outrigger

Here are pics of my new outrigger splint, okay, I thought it didn't hurt, but, now I've changed my mind!

Last Yalpha Mingle

This is the last month for the Yalpha mingle on the byhandartists yahoogroup. Mine is a watercolor butterfly "B" on white cardstock. Used a black zig pen for outline and quote of unknown poet:
Flutter by Butterfly, floating flower in the sky. Kiss me with your petal wings. Whisper secrets, tell of spring.
The yellow edge is paste paper.

 
Ezra, Jim and I had a fun in the snow day! We got all bundled up and went to Tyler Park to use his new snow toy in his new ski pants. I got both on the 75% rack at Target two years ago waiting for him to grow into them! It was sleeting when we got there. He mostly enjoyed being pulled in the snow bowl and watching the other bigger kids go down the hill. He finally wanted to go to the top but never wanted to slide down. We were covered in ice when we got home. Such fun!

Ezra at the end of the day

 

I should have posted this after the above one. He was too tired to walk at the end of our play date!

Belgian Eyelet Book

I have been wanting to make a handmade book for a while now so before my next hand surgery incapacitates, I thought I'd better get to it! This is a book kit I ordered from Suzanne, at Quietfire Design

Just look for the handmade book kits link. I am terrible at adding links! I can't believe I got this one in!
I chose the green combo and while I would tweak a few things next time that I think would make it more consistent, I'm really happy overall. The kit instructions were easy to follow and next time I can order a refill kit since I already have the instructions.

I added the stamped quote, also from Suzanne, on cream card stock.

more atcs!

Here are some more atcs to swap this month. The backgrounds are the same shimmering mists used before but on glossy cardstock. The music stamp is the one I used in the prior post. The ivy is embossed. The letters are a mix of grungeboard and metal. The grungeboard I painted with gold metallic paint and dabbed with alcohol inks, the metal just applied alcohol ink.

Christmas atcs

Here are atcs for Christmas! One is a mini version of the Christmas card posted earlier with one different stamp. The other is patterned paper edged with Silver Krylon pen, mounted on cardstock for strength. The blue cardstock was stamped with my castaway stamp pad (I hadn't played with it lately)and the music stamp from the Crows plate from Quietfire Design (can you tell it is a favorite of mine?) then heated to lighten the image. I used a heat tool instead of an iron, but it seemed to work for what I was doing. On top of that is the little Bethlehem stamp (Wordsworth), embossed with silver ep. I edged the cardstock with embossing ink and embossed with the same silver then wrote "O Holy Night" by hand with Silver Sakura Gelly Roll pen.

December Yalpha Mingle

Here is my Yalpha mingle for the byhandartists yahoogroup. We are to use a 3" or larger letter and the rest of the mingle should have something related to the letter. I did my typical right-handed open page, I realize this is getting boring, I'll get more creative next month. I've been doing backgroud paper for my Christmas cards, described in the previous post, so I used some of the strips I had trimmed off to weave my W. I loved the colors together. Weaving is tedious work(atleast for one with a poorly functioning right hand) but I think it came out okay. I added a little gold metallic rub on, too, but I like a little white showing through anyway.
I free-handed cut the W and attached it with pop dots to Bazzill bling in the pink paper. The inside is stamped with a woven background stamp (All Night Media) with ColorBox dark moss chalk ink. The quotes are stamped with Colorbox Black pigment ink. The stamp on the left is from Quietfire Design and the one on the right is Stampin'Up. The little quilled heart was in my ever growing stash and actually had been a little Christmas ornament that a friend had hung on a miniature tree she gave me a few years ago.

Christmas Card

Since I had laryngitis and couldn't work, after resting the better part of the day, I decided to work on Christmas cards. The card is Fabriano 140 pound cold pressed watercolor paper to which I applied Luminarts shimmering mist Jasper Red. Spritzed with water, too, and dabbed. The ornaments are patterned paper stamped with music score (Quietfire Design Crows plate-site listed in links) in Versacolor celedon and the crow with flourish (also from the same rubber plate), embossing ink and Ranger superfine detail silver. I edged the circles (cut with my Martha Stewart circle cutter, which I find harder to use than I expected) with embossing ink and also embossed with the detail silver. I punched the metal ornament hanger with a tulip-looking EK Success punch from metal repair tape. The silver "thread" is silver Sakura Jelly Roll pen.

29 days Giveaway

Chrysti, on Art by Chrysti, http://chrysti.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/29-days-of-giveaways-for-you/, is doing a 29 days giveaway. Head on over to get in on the fun and maybe be inspired to give something of yourself away as well! I always feel better when I do something for someone else. The link is also posted in my links list.
Enjoy!

Pink Rolodex swap

This is my contribution to the byhandartists group's pink rolodex swap. I painted watercolor paper with Lumiere's halo gold pink paint. On the front I stamped an asian background stamp with Versafine Black ink and attached a pink fiber "ribbon" pushed a bit through a Chinese coin. The larger coins are attached with mounting squares, the smaller ones on some are attached with gel medium. The back is a crow brass stencil by Dreamweaver, that I got from Quietfire Design,that I outlined with micron pen and then painted in with larger black pen. The quote is from Quietfire Design and one I go to over and over again, stamped with Black Versafine ink.

October Yalpha

Wow, it has been a busy 3 months. I can't believe I haven't posted a thing. This is the mingle I did for the byhandartists yahoogroup for October. I like this fun owl and wanted to use him for an October theme and decided a moon could be the "o".
I used patterned paper that I folded for the front and back. I cut out two circles, one from the orange and one a half inch smaller from yellow. I edged them with embossing ink and embossed with Pirate Gold. I stamped the owl with embossing ink and used Detail Black EP. The owl stamp is from Inkadinkado. I glued the larger one onto the paper and the smaller I mounted with mounting tape to pop it up a bit.
The back atc is orange paper with the same little owl and alpha letters by Martha Stewart I got on sale after halloween last year. I used gold photo corners to hold it. Simple, but I like the overall look.

Yellow Yogi Yalpha

This is my mingle page for Yogi for our July Mingle on the byhandartist group. I stuck with the monochromatic theme (hope I don't get "stuck" forever!) I had been toying around with a yellow theme for the mingle and was thrilled when Yogi was to be the recipient. The background is paste paper I made last year. I double stacked two sheets and cut the strips, then took alternate strips and pasted them to yellow-gold cardstock. Used a yellow printed napkin to cover the "Y" chipboard letter and added a little Jolee's sunflower. I mounted it with cushioned mounting tape. I wrote Yellow Yogi Yalpha alternatingly with Pentel yellow milky gel pen and a gold pen. The back has more of the napkin.

CBTC-black, gray and white

Create Byhand Tuesday Challenge

This week's challenge is to use only black, white and grey. My contribution is a vintage image (of my mother-in-law as a child) mounted on white cardstock. That is mounted on chalkboard patterned paper to which I added flourishes and some more number and word doodles. I printed the words out and added them. The photo is mounted with mounting tape.
This was a fun challenge and will also work for the monochromatic atc swap for July.

July atcs-monochromatic

Wow, long time since a post, but I have a nicely painted new space to work in! I am trying to get ahead on some art for July. The byhandartists yahoogroup has a monthly atc swap. This month's theme is monochromatic and anything goes. I like doing Asian themes and red lends itself to that in my mind so.... also the same group does a monthly mingle of a 4x4.5 page. This year is the "Yalpha Mingle" so each page has a prominent letter and pertains to that letter. I used the same idea for my green atcs. I had a scrap of the yellow patterned paper and did a fun foam atc.
I used patterned paper for all. I keep a lot of scraps and a lot are monochromatic, so I went through my stash. On the red herringbone paper, I stamped with a Chinese character background stamp. Cut and mounted with foam tape to a red cardstock background. Stamped the woman with black ink and either cut her out and mounted with foam tape, or punched her with a square punch and added the small chop.
I used harlequin letter grungeboard for the green ones. Colored the alphas with chalk ink, outlined in green pen and dotted with glitter glue. On two I added some vellum printed leaves and on the other some silk leaves I had in my "leaf" collection envie.
The yellow fun foam is stamped with Ranger Vintage Photo ink with an "art" background stamp. The foam is mounted with glue dots.

Created byhand challenge for Tuesday 4/15

Here is my created byhand challenge for this week. "Quotes" is the theme. The background paper is a piece left from last week's project along with one of Suzanne's quotes and a heart stamp- don't remember where I got that particular unmounted heart.

Tuesday byhand Challenge and Happy 7th Birthday to the byhand newletter

This week's challenge is to use watercolor paper and watercolors. I made postcards to send for Suzanne's 7th anniversary of the byhandartists newsletter. You can link to the byhandartists newletter in the links on the right. I used Portfolio water-soluble oil pastels and gesso for the background, stamped happy birthday and a number 7 with Distress Ink Broken China, and used acrylic paint and MM foam stamps to stamp "byhandartists". The other stamps and quote stamps are Suzanne's from Quietfire Design, who's link is also to the right. The quotes are stamped with embossing ink and I used detail black EP.
These will be my last artistic endeavors for a while. I had damage from a leak around the chimney in my office/art space/guest room, and will need to empty it completely which means storing all my supplies for a while for the repairs. The upside is that I will have a lovely, newly painted and refinished floor, room to reorganize afterwards. Cleaning out is a good thing. I'll keep enjoying and being inspired by others.
Also posted is my final "time" themed atc for the April swap. It is napkin art with Glossy Accents on twinkling H2O background paper, mounted to black cardstock and white watercolor paper with Portfolio water soluble oil pastels.

Time ATCs

Here are a few atcs I made today for the time-themed ATC swap for the byhandartists group for April. Time is a favorite theme of mine as there are so many ways to look at it. I took advantage of some backgrounds I already had on hand which led me in some particular direction. I keep a stack of precut, background atcs but rarely use them as I find I just prefer to start at the beginning with a project. Maybe that explains why I am so slow sometimes.

Fun with Ezra

I don't post a lot of family or personal pics, but I did have a wonderfully fun afternoon with Ezra today and here are some pics to prove it. He is a joy to be around at three years old.

Yalpha Mingle for April

I used my background that I made yesterday for my "Cosmic" mingle page. I liked the quote, too.

Cool Background technique

I love this technique posted by Suzanne at Quietfire Design and decided to do a version with products I had on hand.
I used 140# cold pressed watercolor paper, applied water with a brush, dipped another brush into my purchased diluted walnut ink and coated my paper. Then I sprinkled Stampendous Baby Blue Pastel opaque embossing powder on that and some gold mica. Spritzed with water and used my heat tool. Love the look I got- different from Suzanne's but cool just the same; color, texture and glitz! The atc has Eucalyptus walnut ink.
Now have a look at Suzanne's!
http://quietfirestyle.blogspot.com/2008/03/walnut-ink-background-variation.html