Tag : T Tuesday

346 posts

Three days…that’s the long and short of it.

Three days until I’m done with work until late August. But also three days until my oldest is done with high school. Technically he has already graduated since everything is checked off and he has his “card” but he must still attend school until the end. The actual “walk” is on Friday. Yep…getting my tissues ready now.

For me this last week off school is chaotic which can sway from “easy breezy” to “smack you in the face difficult” to “wait, what just happened?” all in one class period. So needless to say, in that respect, the days are long.

Outside of school days, I’ve been keeping busy with little mini projects and helping a friend with the monumental task of cleaning out her parents house now that is sold. I know how hard it is and I wish I could lend a greater hand but timing on these things isn’t always the best.

My first mini project was making a pair of glasses for a co-workers wedding cake topper. She had mentioned that she ordered some Barbie glasses off the internet. I told her I doubted they’d fit and mentioned that I’d made a pair of glasses for a Gnome a couple years back.

The glasses made the gnome a dead ringer for the neighbor kid…err…adult now. Too funny!


Long story short…the Barbie glasses were WAY to small for the would be groom so I was given the challenge of creating a suitable pair.

I think they turned out pretty good. I sent a photo to the bride and she approves.

Over the weekend, my rows of beans and snow peas popped out of the ground. It’s amazing how quickly that happens. I swear if you had all day you could watch them wiggle their way through the soil and unfurl their leaves in a splendid little dance.

 I made another bunting this time for the deck garden. Since I still need to stain the deck rails I decided to try out something new with the bunting.

I used some bamboo to act as mini flag poles suspending the bunting at the front of the garden. The hope is that the flutter of the flags might deter the deer from munching on the plants. This wasn’t my original plan so I’ll need to make a little extension so it can reach all the way around.

Anyone notice my after dinner beer in accordance with the T Stands for Tuesday guidelines?  I’m trying to be a good kid and follow the rules….sometimes it is difficult. :) I forget. It happens.

 

I’ve worked a bit on some journal spilling. Creating a background then quickly with a very free hand (aka messy) spilling my thoughts of the moment. I may leave things as is or I may use my writing as a part of the background. Not sure, so it sits.

I brought home a little basket of treasures from my friends house. Mostly spools of thread, a few vintage dress patterns and some double pointed knitting needles. You should have seen me walking home with my little basket under my arm. I felt like Little Red Riding Hood. I even saw a large critter on the way home. Only it wasn’t a wolf…it was its slightly small cousin a coyote. Its crazy! We’ve noticed a big jump in sightings lately. I have seen 4 in the past 2 weeks. But seeing one while out walking only 2.5 blocks from we was a little disconcerting.

Its the last Tuesday of the school year for me…. but what are you doing today?

This Memorial day marks one year since I lost my mom. She was on my mind all day. Half way through my first cup of coffee I made the decision not to be sad but to reflect and remember the good things, The funny memories. The things that make me smile.

As I walked around the yard watering before it got too hot, I thought about her green thumb. She had flowers galore and a big garden. Houseplants too. I guess I’ve taking after her in that way. I love spending time tending to the garden. Making it beautiful and productive,

My newly sewn and strung garden bunting made me smile. Mom was no seamstress. In fact she hated sewing. She was so happy when I learned how to sew in school and gladly passed all of her supplies on to 13 yr old me.  I’ve never stopped sewing since!

After finishing the outdoor chores I headed inside to do a bit of art journaling. I was really feeling inspired by nature.

The background colors I laid down didn’t scream nature. They were the colors that spoke to me though. Sort of a hard edge along with nature.

Layers upon layers stacked. This fussy cut stamped birds nest was the perfect way to embrace nature. I used watercolor crayons to color the robin eggs then used diamond glaze over top to add dimension. The addition of the thread help sell the idea of the nest for me.

I added the skeleton leaf for balance.  As soon as I added the leaf, the words “live gently upon the earth” jumped out at me.  This page made me smile.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Flora and Fauna

Art Journal Journey
as well as T stands for Tuesday today.
Eight days of school left. Whoop, whoop!
What are you doing today?

 

Last week is a whirlwind in my mind. I’m not even sure why I missed T stands for Tuesday but I did. So this week will be a bit of a catching up….again.

I think we shall start with Mother’s Day.Mothers day sushi

Take out sushi from our favorite local sushi resturant. We actually had this on Saturday since we spent Sunday at my in-laws house. Since their health isn’t the best right now, I brought the meal. The boys tackled the spring/summer to-do list for their folks. It was a good day. Staying busy  was good so I didn’t dwell on my first Mother’s day without my mom.last concert

Last week also brought the last choir concert for J. Its an emotional concert for me…even before having a graduating senior. The last two songs are always the same and they are sung by all members of all choirs. Real tear-jerkers. As they sing the seniors come off stage and bring their parents a rose. Pass the tissues please…..

senior rose

They also have a fun slide show of highlights and the guess the baby photo of the senior. So awesome! When we got home it was late and I couldn’t bring myself to dig in the storage room for a bud vase especially when the recycling was so close. A wine bottle works well. And bonus it hits the T stands for Tuesday beverage as well. :)paint to paper

Workspace current view…

I haven’t really had any creative mojo for the past week or so. I’ve put paint to paper but completed nothing.

Most of this past weekend was spent outdoors. We scrubbed the deck which was long overdue. We decided that once it was scrubbed the weathered barnwood look was quite appealing so we’ve decided to just re-stain the railings.

Marvin approves. We used some plywood to provide a temporary gate so he could enjoy the a little sun on the deck with us. Of course he has his own personal greenhouse. Cats and boxes…

Anyway…we were enjoying the sunshine on the deck after long weekend of toil which also included planting in the garden.

The shed garden doesn’t look like much yet. Once the seeds sprout the space will quickly fill.

These onions are a funny story. Last fall I dumped this planter box into the shed garden figuring we’d just use the rototiller to mix in potting soil from containers into the garden. As I was pulling weeds, I noticed that this brick of soil was sprouting onion up from underneath. I tipped it back over and had all these green onions that were curling around the edges seeking sun. I tossed it back in the planter box and watered to see what would happen. Now a week or so later they are wonderful.

After we took the patio set and chiminea out of the shed and set it up we noticed that the chiminea is on its last summer.

The crack in the terracotta has grown exponentially. We need to be very careful with how we treat it over summer.

This week is slightly quieter than last…I think.

What are you doing today?

Last week I left off with the conservatory portion of our day trip to recreate the missed field trip. Next to the conservatory is a zoo. Como Zoo.

As children, both Mr. G and I visited this zoo with our parents….rode the giant tortoise, looked at the gorillas behind the bars and saw Sparky the Seal perform. Things have changed for the better over the years. The habitats are continually being improved. Mini-me has even witnessed change in her years. When we got there we saw that both the seal and polar bear habitats were changed or changing. Good news for those critters.

The big cats are a favorite of mine…

Watching this big guy walk was like seeing a giant version of Marvin. He saunters when he walks.

The lions were thoroughly enjoying the sunshine.

And who could blame them when just off to the side was the remains of our snow.

It is Minnesota after all.

I have one more part of our adventure to share with you next week.

Since this is T stands for Tuesday I had to share my birthday present to myself. I picked it up at Caribou (the best coffee place in my opinion…no affiliation, just a very smitten customer) while getting my free birthday drink.

This weekend also brought prom for J. He went with a bunch of friends and had a wonderful time. I once again wish I could show you my favorite candid shot from pre-prom pictures. It captured his personality perfectly….but I respect their right to privacy even now that he is an adult.

School is winding down…yet so many things that need to be done.

What are you doing today?

Today for T stands for Tuesday I’m sharing the first installment of the adventure Mini-me and I headed went on to recreate the Digital Photography field trip she missed while on her French field trip. Poor communication between teachers I guess.

We followed in the foot steps of her class and went to the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory in our state capital city of St. Paul. 

The Conservatory is a beautiful structure with the iconic glass dome and several glass wings jutting out from the center.

I knew the structure was old but didn’t realize that it was over 100 years old until I noticed this sign.

While Mini-me was working her photography skills on the flora and fauna displayed, I was marveling at the architecture and unique features of the building.

Its amazing to me how glass and steel can be a work of art in itself.

In a separate wing of the conservatory was a Bonsai pavilion. These were my favorites.

Since this wing was dedicated to Japanese culture and tradition it was only fitting I share a bit of the traditional tea ceremony pieces on display here for T stands for Tuesday.

The pottery was simple yet beautiful.

More next time for T Tuesday…

What are you doing today?

It’s been a weird week…or two weeks. I missed T stands for Tuesday last week. It just wasn’t in the cards to get something posted or even attempt to make the rounds to my fellow Tuesday bloggers…or anywhere else for that matter. So moving on…

The next weirdness was the crazy weekend blizzard the weather folks were hyping up.  Well there weren’t wrong!! We got 16.2 inches of snow here.

And guess what…school went on here as scheduled Monday. 

As I walked in the building this is what I saw to my right. 

Here’s the drift that reached the roof that was to my left as I walked into the building! Crazy! We have more snow in the forecast for Wednesday. UGH! But then 60°F by the weekend. So weird. Mother Nature has lost her mind!!

Ok…I know you are tired of hearing me complain so on with the creativity.

Last week I sat down with an idea in mind. Creating a scrappy, handmade, hand bound journal. After creating my signatures I needed to come up with a sturdy yet pretty way to bind this journal.

This was my idea. It’s very fine plastic canvas…like needle point size grid. I used a Japanese screw punch to make the holes to stitch my signatures through then glued it to the lace panel with E6000.

I don’t think I exactly follow the hand binding rules but…don’t care..it’s the way that works for me. I’ve been doing it this same way for over 11 years!

I decided to use this book cover, covering the inside with scrapbook paper before gluing the lace bound signatures down.

I’m pleased with this little book. I’m planning to use it for random thoughts and quotes along the way.

Last weekend…or I guess that would be the previous weekend when we could actually leave the house…Mini-me and I treated ourselves to coffee.

These Minnesota-isms just don”t seem to get old especially when we have feet of snow on the ground.

This week holds a solo/ensemble contest for Mini-me and getting ready for the end of the school year wrapping up. I was told that there are 38 school days left. YIKES! That kind of freaks me out. There is so much to do!!!!
What are you don’t today??

We all have our fingers crossed for tomorrow. We are getting snow and seemingly lots of it so we might as well have the day off if we have to have snow after Easter. The weather reports are saying 6-9 inches.

❄ UPDATE: Snow day!!! ❄ 

Enough about the crummy weather and on to the art journal.
collect beautiful memories

I created this page with a layer of randomly cut squares and rectangles using both heavy card stock and a textured chocolate box.

collect beautiful memoriesI used a combination of stains, distress paint, gelatos and charcoal sticks to create the variation of color.

collect beautiful memories

I layered my “found relative” image over a fussy cut flower photo, paint stained baby wipe and frayed fabric. The paper clip had just the right patina so it found its way on the page as well.collect beautiful memories

I adding some distressing to the photo which started as a printed image. I used gel medium to adhere it to card stock to give it the weight and stability of a photo of that age. I scuffed up the edges then wet misted them before dragging across a distress ink pad. I ended up accidentally creasing the image in a couple of places with added authenticity in my opinion.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for the theme: Recycle and Collage

Art Journal Journey
I also need to share my photo challenge recap. 

16. Money …..accidental collection of money I’ll never spend

17. Green

18. Bread ….lunch

19. Season ….it’s supposed to be Spring…right?

20. A note

21. Oh No! …someone is disturbing Marvin’s peace

22. Last thing I bought …arrows

23. Candy

24. Perspective ….grilling with snow on the ground  (imagine that I’m having a nice glass of wine with this…photo not included) 

I’ve officially abandoned the rest of the month. This month was difficult and not very inspiring. I’m taking April off from the photo challenge scene.

So Tomorrow…Tuesday…I’ll either be shoveling the going to work or just shoveling. I’m hoping for the latter.

What are you doing today?

 

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