Weekend Post

      Hi everyone. Happy weekend to you. It's been really cold once again in my area with nights down near 0 degrees F/almost -18 degrees C, some light snow, and  wind that seems to be an almost constant in the last couple of months. They say we are in for a bit of a warm up later in the week, which I hope is true. 🤞

     We also have  a lot of  ice on the ground (as you can see in the frozen footprint photo above), and it's a bit treacherous to walk most places. I hope with the predicted warm up some of that ice will melt because I don't want to fall and break a bone or two but I do want to get outside some. Maybe I need triple fingers crossed for that to happen. 🤞🤞🤞 😏

     Today I have some other photos as well as a journal page for my "What's Up?" challenge at Art Journal Journey.  I am also linking  up to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

   So "what's up" with me?  My journal page is all about the after holiday clean up and return to "regular" life which  you might be in or almost in depending on how long you chose to celebrate.   At my house the decorations are coming down (except for my winter tree that stays up through the end of the month or even early February.) Time to get back into the swing of the day to day. 

   Back before Christmas I found a couple of old greeting cards with these fun dog images on them. They were stashed under some things in a cabinet. I cut the couch dogs image out from one of the cards, and from the same card I cut out the quote you see on my journal page.. 

   To make this page I started with my golden background paper and a brick wall stencil. I used some white stencil paste through the stencil. Once that dried I added the couch dogs. Then I added a small moon to one of the windows. Using a brown Sharpie I then colored in the window frames. I took a grey marker and colored in the view through the windows. On the golden background the grey looks more like dark brown. On my work table I had a couple of leftover die cut party hats, so I added them, and then I die cut 3 balloons and added them.  I also used a strip of washi tape to finish my page. 

   The other day the wind was a little less blustery; there was no rain, snow or sleet coming down, and the sun was shining. I decided to get out of the house and took a drive down along the coast. It ended up just windy and cold enough to only be able to take a very short walk.  (And I thought since it was 32 degrees F/  0 degrees C which is a big warm up compared to most days that it would be nice.)  But the change of scenery was great.

   Here's a few photos from my drive and my short walk.

I'm guessing these birds might be starlings. Whatever songbirds they are, I like how these photos came out.

I braved the wind for a bit to check if there were any seals on the rocks.

They make me cold just thinking about them in that water. 

    I started my coastal drive in Salisbury, Massachusetts at the state reservation. Usually I see quite a few birds there, but I think I didn't hit it at a very good birding time of day.  Are the birds in this next photo loons or mergansers? I can't decide  from the photo nor could I tell when actually watching them. All I can say is that they were having a hard time making a lot of headway. 

Further up the shoreline in New Hampshire I watched this kite twist around in the wind. 

I also watched a refueling  plane make way for a landing at Pease where the Air National Guard station is.

I passed this colorfully decorated little store, closed for the season.

And had a full on view of the Isles of Shoals. These island  are 6 miles off shore.

     That's all for me. I hope your new year is starting off well, and that you have a great rest of your weekend and start to the new week. 

   

It's January 2- A 2025 Arty Look Back

     Hi everyone. Happy Friday. I hope your week has been warmer than it's been here in New Hampshire. Brrr.😨

     Last year I had a lot of fun playtime making art, and so today I thought I would share some of my favorite art pieces I made in 2025. I'll be linking  up to Gillena's Friday Lunch Break, Nicole's Friday Face Off, and also, as  it is January 2, Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's Second on the Second. Second on the Second is a time to post a previous post again

   First off, here are some art journal pages. There's lots of faces scattered here and there throughout.

In the above photo, I love the use of color, and in this next photo, I love the splatter and simplicity of stamped images on a page.

In these next 2 pieces, I made  successful scenes.

And I really love how the collaged scene , that you can see through the window,  came out in the photo below.

In the butterflies above, I love how I made this  page mostly just by cutting up tissue paper. And below, I like the freehand background and how it works with the details of my images.

In this next page, I like the lightened background and then the splatter to make it look uncovered in spots. Plus I like the mostly monochromatic look of the daisies and then on the butterfly page below the daisies.

I used lots of sticker to make a fun Harry Potter scene.

I like  how I layered the images in this next piece.

Next, I used the 2 long sides as my focus edges, instead of the top and bottom.

For Mia's September background challenge at Art Journal Journey, I had fun making some more detailed backgrounds.

I can't forget Halloween fun.

And I think the season I am most inspired by is autumn.

These next 2 just  came together nicely.

And I bought some of these graphite watercolors this past fall. I love the look of them.

 More backgrounds, this time a little more simple.

And I also love making winter holiday pages too, even snowy pages.

And I hope  you aren't sick of my re-look yet 😉 as  I made  several tags this past year including an envelope journal to hold many of those tags.

 

   I have lots of ideas of things I want to try out in my art this year, including some face drawing for Nicole's challenge. 😏

     Thank you everyone for your support by stopping by my blog last year. It was much appreciated. ❤ I  hope that you get to do a lot of whatever makes you happy in 2026.

     Have a great first weekend for the new year.

Welcome 2026

    Hi everyone. Happy 2026 to you!  🎊⌛⏳

   My New Year's Eve was very low key, and the new year will start that way also.  How about you? Any big plans for the start of the new year.?

    I'm here to start a new year at Art Journal Journey. Again, thank you Sharon for hosting last month.  You rocked it! And thank you everyone who joined in also. Winter was a great way to wrap up the year, and might even be a great way to continue into 2026 from the way the weather has been going. Or maybe for some of you, a warm and sunny beach would be better. 

    It's a new month so time for a new host, and for January, I am hosting. I've chosen a theme of "What's Up?"  Let me explain what I mean by that.

    I picked the phrase "What's up?" because it can be addressed in many ways. You can take the phrase literally and make a page about something that is up. It could be something in the sky, or even something up high like an item on a shelf or a skyscraper. I'm sure you can think of many things that are up.

   OR, since some people like more of an open ended theme, you can make a page as though you were answering someone asking you "What's up?" . If you aren't familiar with that phrase, "What's up?" can be interpreted to be what's going on with you, what is happening in your life, what's happening around you, or even how you are.

   I'm excited to see how you interpret the theme and to see "What's Up?" with you. And just to clarify, you don't need to use both interpretations of the theme in your journaling.

    "What's Up?" with me. Well I am, like everyone is, welcoming in the new year, so that is the theme of my first page. I did include some fireworks on my page because that's an example of something being up in the sky. 

    To make my page I painted the background with some pink graphite watercolor paint. Then I stenciled in the letters and numbers for the title of my page with a Sharpie. I used a silver marker to color them in. Then I took another stencil that looked kind of like a firework and  used a gold paint pen to make that image. I add gold glitter glue to the little star-like ends of the lines. 

   After that I stamped several clocks from a couple of clock cube stamps. I then die cut the ric-rac and added a piece along both ends of my page. Finally, I punched out a phrase and a bow from some 49 and Market punch outs. I  outlined the bow with a black Sharpie.

  Please remember our rules also. Art Journal Journey is an art journaling blog. Our themes run for a month and your journal pieces must somehow connect to the theme. Please, we only accept art journaling, but it can be journaling in any form. BUT we don't accept cards, ATCs, tags or other forms of art UNLESS they are part of a journal page. 

   I hope you like my theme this month and decide to join in at AJJ. I'm looking forward to seeing "What's Up?" with you.

   And I'm wishing everyone a wonderful year ahead too with lots of joy and happiness, good health, good friends, good family, and of course, some good art ( or whatever it is you love most 😀) too. 

Last Art Journal Pages for 2025

    Hi everyone.  It's countdown mode to 2026 at this point. And I remember when it was countdown to the new millennium, and now, we're almost 26 years into it. 

    Today I want to share a few holiday pages I made and haven't yet posted. I'll be linking  them up to Sharon's Winter theme over at Art Journal Journey

    Thank you Sharon for hosting during this busy month. You picked another awesome theme and inspired us all with your wonderful art. I also want to thank everyone who joined Sharon so far this month. There's still a little more time to join in before this challenge ends on the 31st. 😏

     I  just loved this paper from Ciao Bella that makes up the background and the main image on my page. I had to ask myself what to do to actually make this page my own?

    I used a stencil and a Sharpie to make a few postmark lines, and then I stamped a few phrases. I had this interesting scrap from a die cut sitting on my work table that I added to the bottom.

    

   This gingerbread paper was actually in a package, and I saved it because I thought it would have some future use. I covered my page with a bit of it. Then I die cut (using the very old TH gingerbread die) the gingerbread man from some tan striped paper. I thought at first the tan colored paper would work for a piece of gingerbread, but it was too light and didn't look like baked gingerbread. To fix that I inked it, and then to tie that color into my background I rubbed just a bit of the same ink on my background. I highlighted the gingerbread man with my Sharpie and a white Posca pen. The potholder, bow and scarf actually came from a  Creative Expressions gingerbread stamp set. I stamped and fussy cut them, colored them in and then added those pieces. I finished my page by drawing in the rest of the cookie's details as well as  stamping a quote from the Creative Expressions Gingerbread set that the scarf, etc. came from.

   My final holiday page has an old photo that was in a paper magazine (one of those booklets of paper "items" I found on the magazine rack at Barnes and Nobel). I used that image for my background. It didn't quite fill the page, so I used some blue and white cloth trim to fill in the top and bottom edges. I then added the colored image (from an AALL& Create package) and die the words. 

  Thanks everyone for all your kind comments that made 2025 a great year of art journaling for me. ❤  I'm hoping to try some new techniques in 2026.  And hoping to finish a few projects too.  

   Have a great rest of your year if I don't post between now and the start of 2026.  

T Stands for Wrapping Up 2025

    Hi everyone. Happy last Monday of 2025. I hope everyone who celebrated Christmas last week had a wonderful holiday. After a couple of days with my daughter and son-in-law visiting, my actual Christmas was quiet. Other than making my husband and myself  a nice dinner, I had to catch up on some shoveling out and writing some New Years cards. Some made it into the mail, but not all of them. 😞

    Since this is the last T day for 2025 over at  Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog ,I thought I would share some photos I took during the year with T day in mind, but that I never ended up sharing on my blog. Be prepared for a lot of drinks. It was fun looking back through the last 12 months of photos and all the happy moments it brought. ❤

We met my daughter and son-in-law in Manchester (about an hour away) for brunch one day last winter.

    There's a pizza place not far from my mother-in-law's nursing home where we like to grab lunch either before or after a visit with her. And occasionally after a visit we meet up with my sister-in-law (and sometimes her family) that don't live far away from the nursing home. 

   I can't remember what this pink drink was but I'm thinking some kind of hard cider. I do remember we tried this new restaurant called Evviva Trattoria, and that I had baked pasta with meatballs. I also remember it was delicious.

    The Framer's Kitchen is our local hole in the wall breakfast/lunch place. It's actually the best breakfast place in my area (or at least I think so). We went out for breakfast a few times during year.

   We'd lost power for quite a while one day last summer,  so my husband and I went to the only restaurant in my town for a burger and beer for dinner.

And here's some sugar water for the bees to drink.

    We had take out sandwiches for dinner one nice night on the dock at my mother-in-law's house.  (This picture makes me want it  to be summer again. 😏)

   And more thirsty bee photos. This time they're getting a big drink of water from the bird bath.

A couple of quick stop dinners, usually in the summer after a day in the boat.

More hungry and thirsty bees at  their sugar water. And yes, so far the hive has made it through the winter.  👍❤😀

  And here's a couple of photos from our Nova Scotia trip in September. First, an ice tea for me and lemonade for my husband at the restaurant in the Fortress of  Louisbourg. 

    And then some mini-Diet Coke bottles we picked up at a grocery store to have for our giant roadtrip. I wish they sold this size here in the US because they're smaller than our small 8 pack bottles and are really just enough when you feel like a soft drink.

A birthday celebration this past fall since my daughter's and my husband's birthdays are only 1 day apart.

And finally, last Tuesday, when we took our Christmas light walk in the snow. The farm that does the light show (Sandy Hill Farm in Maine) has a hot cocoa stand. Here my son-in-law, my daughter, myself and my husband toasting to everyone and wishing you a Happy 2026.

To a happy T day, a great rest of 2025, and a super start to 2026!