ATC Journal Pages

I finally took the ATC's I made in a mini class with Laure Ferlita through her Imaginary Trips classes and turned them into journal pages. First I shrank the ones I'd made down to a very small size so they'd all fit on one page. I kept the card I got from Kelly Riccetti in the original form putting it on a page by itself using photo corners so I wouldn't ruin the card itself.

A trip to Ireland is ready to take off. Check it out at Imaginary Trips and come join me on a fun trip through Ireland with watercolor journaling.

Home at Last!

I went to California for Christmas and just got home two days ago. What a trip! First, we got to drive in a huge rainstorm so my husband and I took separate vehicles so gifts wouldn't get wet. I hate having to follow someone especially over 300+ miles. At least we didn't run into rain on that first leg of the trip but only from Fallbrook to Simi Valley. I finally gave up following and telephoned (yes, I know it's not legal but I kept it short) my husband to say I'd just get there when I got there!

Then preparations in hurry-up-mode for a couple of days. I made caramel corn (not usually a Christmas treat but my husband wanted it) and my daughter made some chex mix (again, not a usual Christmas treat but her daughter got confused about when we have that treat). I made brown sugar fudge and sponge candy (a crispy, foamy brittle broken in pieces and dipped in chocolate - google it as it's easy and sooo yummy). I made date balls, stuffed dates and divinity too. I didn't find time to make fattigman, a Norwegian cookie my grandmother used to make, nor did I make Biscochitas, an aniseed sugar cookie my sister started making 50 years ago for our family. Ah well, we had enough as my daughter had already made snowballs (sandies or Mexican wedding cake cookies), pfefferneuse, chocolate fudge with and without walnuts, and mints. A turkey was cooked for my daughter's brother-in-law's birthday on the 23rd, cheese, sausages and crackers were cut up and put out for Christmas Eve and my husband's spaghetti sauce made for Christmas dinner (it's red, isn't it?). We didn't make the gingerbread houses till New Year's Eve! I tried to get the girls to make journal pages and they did but after filling the first quadrant they pretty much quit on me. I finished mine just before heading home.

Next I went down to my sister in Fallbrook again where I got together with my son and some other sisters. We went out to Anthony's Seafood Grotto by Grossmont Center (a shopping mall) and that's where I picked up some food poisoning. I was sick for several days with effects lasting a good week. Won't be eating there again but we had noticed their quality had gone downhill before we got sick! Still I found time to start an acrylic painting for my bathroom but haven't finished it yet. It's my first real acrylic painting and probably looks it but I still like it so far.

I was getting ready to come home to get ready for another watercolor class with Laure Ferlita when my daughter called and asked if I could come back up and babysit the dogs so they could go to San Diego for a nephew's birthday party. So back up I went for a few more days. Then I finally headed home. I decided to go east on Hwy. 58 rather than the 210 Interstate to hwy 15 and ran into a 2 hour stoppage due to an accident and roadwork. After that though, I had smooth sailing.

The journal pages posted here were done on my trip. Not too much to show but Christmas is a busy time even without drawing and painting. I've started my new class centered on Valentine's Day with Laure Ferlita. Hope to share what I do in this class soon.

By the way, have you ever wanted to go on a trip to Ireland? I'll be leaving January 31st with Laure on another Imaginary Trip. Want to join me? If not Ireland perhaps you'd like New Orleans another new trip she's worked to provide us with which leaves February 22nd. Just click here and here to find out more!

Hmmmm.....

I was just wondering how everyone is doing? Are you having fun getting ready for Christmas? Is it more stressful this year than last? More joyful? I really hope you are all having more fun and if you aren't I hope you can find a space to stop, take a deep breath and relax for a few minutes.

I finally finished my Christmas cards and am getting them mailed out. Here's what I came up with this year. I stopped making originals for each person - that was taking the fun out of it as time would fly by and then I'd feel stressed and rushed.

Now who has baked anything for Christmas? I've made some brown sugar fudge that I started making after my mother-in-law died. My husband missed the candy and his mom so I tried making it. After three failures (in one day), I said a prayer and it must have been heard as the fudge has come out fine now for the last 25+ Christmases! So, please, let me know what you are cooking up. Let's have some fun!

O Christmas Tree!

I bought this tiny tree the other day as I rather missed not having a tree and my husband seemed to be missing one too. It stands only 12" tall with the pot so it's tiny. I strung some beads to wrap it with and added some sequins as ornaments. I liked it and decided to sketch it so I'd keep the memory! Hope you are having fun getting ready for Christmas too.

Thanksgiving is Gone Already!

Thanksgiving arrived and now it's gone! Wow. The time sure flies. I cooked and cooked, did dishes and played many games of Trivial Pursuit.

My daughter and her family came in on Monday night. We went to town the next day for a buffet lunch but other than that, I cooked! Before anyone arrived I had made:

• banana bread, both plain and with walnuts
• 4 batches of caramel corn, one with peanuts (should have done two with peanuts)
• 3 batches of my version of chex mix
• chili and beans
• pot roast
• shortbread cookies

The next day our son came in and from there on I cooked:

• tacos, both meat and lentil versions, and tostadas
• sausage, bacon and eggs, both fried and scrambled
• turkey with stuffing, relish tray, mashed potatoes, corn and gravy
• an acorn squash stuffed with apple, pear, pecans, dried cranberries, cinnamon and real maple syrup for my vegan son
• 3 pumpkin pies, one apple pie and one blackberry-raspberry pie
• batch after batch of popcorn
• Thai fresh green curried butternut squash
• french toast and sausage
• salad bar with too many items to mention
• southern style sweet potatoes

It was a food filled time but we managed to play a couple of games of Around-the-World on the drawn-in-the-dirt basketball court in the cold wind and multiple games of Trivial Pursuit. The old team (my husband and I) won at least half!

My grandkids fed the goats and dogs, took out the trash, set the table and decorated it for Thanksgiving dinner, ate plenty of junk food but didn't ask for soda till the day before they left. They played the old Atari computer games and the new games on their i-pods, colored pictures and played paper dolls. The two youngest peeled potatoes, sweet potatoes and cucumbers plus chopped whatever needed chopping.

In spite of the help, I am taking a day to rest now that everyone has gone home! I painted some of the decorations the kids made and that made up my journal entry for the holiday. I should have left more room for writing!

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful too.

Mail Day!

Aren't I the lucky one? Helena of Creating a Likeness blog from England sent me these things for my birthday which is coming up very soon. She makes some very nice cards which she sells but I didn't have to buy mine! The booklet is so cute too. I have to show it to my granddaughters as I bet they'd love to try to make one like it. I don't have butterflies as pretty as these but they'll make do.

I am lucky to have Helena as a blog friend. There have been a couple of times in the past couple of years when I thought of giving up blogging when I was in a blue funk and then out of the blue, she'd send me an email asking how I was. That got me going again. She sent these photo corners because she remembered me making some once for a project because I didn't have any from the store. Thank you for the birthday gift Helena and for "being there" when I needed it.

Happy New Year!

This year we end with a blue moon. Since I am not going to rush out early in the morning, this is the picture I am starting out the new year with. It was a tough year for many but things are beginning to look up a bit. I think ending with something special like a blue moon is a good sign of things to come. At least I am taking it that way. Hope everyone has a wonderful new year with good things to come.

Hi everyone. Hope you had lots of fun and will have some great

memories from Christmas. I had fun with my grandkids. I made a

page in my journal before heading out for the visit to show some crafts we could make. They looked at them and wanted to make the glittered stars. We had fun and it was a great way to show them the idea rather than just telling them about the crafts. I used Pitt pens and watercolor pencils to make the page. The second picture is a photo of what we all came up with.

The third photo was a way to procrastinate in my knitting. I thought I'd stop and draw the process before I finished the socks. I am not good at drawing from memory so needed them in front of me while I drew. This page was done on MiTientes paper with colored pencils.

My new year is starting off with lots of new classes. Hopefully I'll remember to share some of what I do in them here on my blog. I tend to get overwhelmed and forget to post things when I take on too much and I've gone and signed up for classes that overlap and

add up to about 9 of them at once for a little while! They just sound like so much fun I can't help but sign up and join in!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have a great new year!

I took this picture in December last year. Yes, ALL that snow was one of our biggest snowstorms since we moved to Arizona eight years ago.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone. I am visiting at my daughter's house with her family. Our son will be coming up for the holiday too.

Tonight we'll be decorating at least 9 dozen hard-boiled eggs!

Hope you all have a great holiday.