Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Techo and Swap Art



I am relieved to say that Valerie
finally received her swap art from me,
and she has blogged about it for T day.
Apparently, customs held onto it for
about ten days.  I'm just glad it
arrived safely and intact.  Above is
one page that I made for Valerie's
"Bird" theme.  Couldn't resist including
some fabric in the collage.  Please
visit Bastelmania to see the rest of
the pages, and some of Valerie's
beautiful art work.



A random quote...too funny.
And true.







(Click on any image for a larger view.)
I did, indeed, have the urge to stitch,
and made up one of the little felt
stars in red, white, and blue. It worked
up pretty quickly--though a bit wonky--
with beads, buttons, and felt. Why is
it so hard to get stuff to stay centered?
Even though I pin it first, it seems to
move off center as I stitch...





One of the fun things about getting together
with art friends, is that they share their 
techniques, and even let you try out their
hand-carved stamps! 




And when the permanent ink you used to
stamp the cicada on the previous page
bleeds through to the next page, it's the
perfect opportunity to use the new flowered
duct tape that was purchased to 
reinforce the mailed overseas package!

That is a tick you may have spotted on the
left side of the wildflowers...found him 
crawling on my clothes when I got out 
of the shower. Ick!! It's fun to get out and
investigate a new place to walk- enjoy the
sunshine and get some exercise- but don't
forget the insect repellent!!


Recycling a couple of beverage images
from previous weeks...



and encouraging you to visit the
T Tuesday group over at
Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog.




Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Hobonichi Techo ~ Illustrated Pages



Because of our cottonwood trees,
it has been a week of cotton
on the wind...our yard is covered
in fluffy stuff. The bunches and
twiggy pods have been dispersed
by the lawn mowing, but just 
scattered the cotton in a thinner layer!




Enjoying the sunshine, and doodling
in my Hobonichi Techo journal.




For the record, I really dislike housework.
(You probably already figured that out)
I'd much rather be drawing and journaling!







Above is threquisite
 tea (or in my case, coffee) cup, for
linking to Elizabeth's Tea Tuesday blog hop. 




I like to write about and draw my
crafty pursuits, what's going on,
things overheard...silly stuff...
it's in here. 




It seems odd that we haven't had any
 locusts in our area. I know we've
had them before.  Maybe they overslept...





Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Swap Pages from Valerie



A 'picture heavy' post today
of the delightful swap art pages
that I received from Valerie...
for my "Word & Number Play" theme.





They are full of games and vintage 
images, alphabets 



and numbers...




rhymes and cute children.








There are so many clever pockets
and tags!



The hands on this page are
wooden cut-outs...



The tag on the right has the
Swap and contact info.




I really love all of the vintage
style papers she found!




This amazing page opens up
to reveal a Snakes and Ladders
game board.  I believe Valerie drew
this herself!  So well done, and I know
it had to be time consuming. Not sure
if it's watercolor or marker, but the black 
ladders look like they have been
oh-so-carefully drawn on.



I wish the little snakes and ladders
tag with the tiny game piece, die,
and letters on square beads had 
scanned better.  So cute!



I was somewhat dismayed to see 
how many extra pages I received
from Valerie, as i had not sent her
nearly so many. She said that since my
'pages were so much smaller' (than
hers) that she thought I should
receive more of them!  So sweet of
her, and more goodies in the box
besides! Thank you so much...


What a generous group of ladies
in this swap!

I must, of course, include some little
drawings from my Techo calendar. I 
made a very quick road trip from Ohio to
Tennesee to see the grandchildren,
and be the proud Grandma at a 
dance recital.



Saved the ticket, and drew my
best remembrance of her little
recital outfits. Lots of sparkly sequins!




If you are still with me after all these
images, I leave you with animals in
tea cups for T Tuesday...I found the
'black cat in a tea cup' on a collage 
page that someone gave me, and
the hamster in the cup (left) is inspired
by Kawaii animals on Pinterest.
Some days you just gotta provide
yourself with extra cute stuff!




Hope your week is full of sunshine
and artful adventures! And maybe
some extra cute stuff too...