Gratitude and Thanks

I meant to get this post out before Canadian Thanksgiving but of course, for on reason or another, was not able to do so. I have been thinking a lot about being thankful- I have a lot to be thankful for. We all do. For all the big things like peace in our lives, for being able to enjoy the fruits of our labour. For the fact that we can see the leaves fall of the trees, or as I sit by the window and look out and watch the cold raindrops beat against the window, for the shelter that I have, the warmth that my working furnace affords me (nevermind that Iwill pay through my nose for the gas that stokes the furnace), Most of all, I am grateful for my life. No, nothing dramatic has happened to me-I didn't survive some earth-shattering moment that opened my eyes- my eyes have been open all this time- but sometimes, even when we are grateful for the good and bad things in our lives, we forget to express it- so I am doing just that.

Tammy, I am thankful for that stuffed camel you sent me, along with the Puppy chow mix. Pugs, I am grateful that you thought enough of me to send me those stamps. Sister, thanks so much for thinking to set aside those newspapers for me, even if you really wanted to throw them out two weeks ago, Mum, thanks for cooking me my favourite meal, even if you didn't tell me about it till too late. Pat, your kindness was amazing, since you don't know me, yet thought enough of me to send me that camel. Liz, thanks for inspiring me (and addicting me) with your fabulous works. Rox, what can I say- I write some of my entries to make you laugh. I was listening to the CBC program, Spark (which comes as podcasts, BTW) and they were discussing what makes blogs great. One of the things Merlin Mann said to do is to ask yourself "who is my audience" and focus your writing on one person that inspires you and write to that. So, I try.

To each and every one of you, I thank you. I am grateful.

In Bahasa Malaysia, to thank someone is to say "Terima Kasih". Literally translated, it means "Receive Love". Please receive my love

Art in the Summer

I've been bad. I went out and got some more stamps. If my house were to ever catch fire, I am sure I'd die from all the fumes from my rubber stamps. I already have a plan. If I am home, I will open up the window and fling out all my stamps. Meanwhile, I am keeping a record of all my stamp acquisitions so at least I can try and claim insurance if I need to. Something tells me I am woefully underinsured since I first got my insurance. There is a cautionary tale on the news today about a home that was struck by lightning and caught fire. Even though the family had insurance, they don't think it will be enough to rebuilt the home.

So, here are some bits and bobs I've been working on. This card I had made specially for my friend Komali's daughter's birthday. The idea I got from JanTink. The colours are what my friend had picked out for the theme.

Stamps: Unfrogettable, Zoofari, A little birdie told me, Doodle wheel (all Stampin'Up!)

Paper: watercolour paper, rose red, celery (SU)

Accessories: Organdy ribbon from a ribbon share I got from Heidi at Pink Hedgehog Papercrafts

Inks: Stampin' Up! Classic Inks, StazOn black.
I punched out the squares from watercolour paper and inked the animals on then watercoloured them using my Aquapainter.

Something else I was working on is the ATC below. It's a prelude to the Tasteful Nudes ATC swap I signed up for. Like I said, I got new stamps!! One of my favourites is the Quartet of Bobbies that are from the Queen's Dresser Drawer. I picked this up from Stampdiva, along with Frida, and some nudie stamps from PaperArtsy. Below is a glimpse of what I am currently working on. Can I say I love my Tim Holtz Distress Inks? They are so beautiful and they take to paper so well. I was afraid I was going to get mud when I tried to colourwash two different colours but instead, the colours just blended nicely without mixing. I used Broken China and Shabby Shutters. The stuff on the writing pad is some songs I'd picked out for a Favourite Music swap I am going to be doing with some ladies I know. Its been fun revisiting my favourite songs to see if I want to include them in this swap.

I seem to be having a hard time uploading my quartet of bobbies. I'll try again once more. If it doesn't work, I'll just have to retake the picture another time.Grrr!

There, the bobbies finally uploaded. Phew! This was the fifth time trying. I usually don't have much problems uploading my pictures.

The nudie ladies are from one of the Vintage Nude Plates from Paper Artsy. I stamped the bobbies, then masked them before I stamped the ladies on. I used my Distress Inks, with exception of the bobbies, who got the Not Quite Navy treatment.


I've been having fun watching the traffic on my blog since I installed Feedjit. There are quite a lot of people I don't know visit- please DO say "hi", as I don't bite- unless you want me to. But we'd have to be good friends- I don't bite strangers. :)


Please, do validate me.... after all, the diva part of my name didn't come from nothing. Feedback is valued, but like Shelli (of the Shelli Gardner fame) said, I reserve the right to surround myself with positivity and good vibes on only hear the accolades :)

Blog Awards

So, my friend Sue passed this award on to me.

Thanks, Susie! I would like to pass it on to three people:

Roxanne, author of Art of Practice . Roxanne is a very talented writer, who has recently taken steps towards writing full time. She is, a little bit of a philosopher as well and is a true kindred spirit, a la Anne of Green Gables.

Donelda, who has been steadily digesting Jim Krause's book, Design Basics Index and sharing the tips to better design wth us. Donelda mantains Wiggy's World of Crafts and her enormous talent at creating cards is obvious when you visit her site.

And of course, to Irene, who inspires me artistically (and lives on the other side of the world). Irene lives in the city I was born in. She is an astounding scrapbooker, whose work is a result of layers and layers of details. She also has some marvellous techniques that she demonstrates on her blog. Her site is called Scrapperlicious.

Lastly, my friend Kimmie passed this on to me. Thanks, Kim!. I am supposed to nominate seven favourite blogs ... hmmm... I think this a ploy to get us all sucked into the vortex that is the blogosphere .......

1. Susanna Boyd's Card of the Week.com . Susanna does a review of people's blogs and does a best of blogosphere summary. Its a good place to hop to if you are lazy to blog hop.

2. JanTink's Stamps Paper Scissors. I am a big fan of Jan. She is too funny, with her chocolate devotion and her guilt about commiting rubbah -dultery.... although she seems to be straying far for Stampin' Up! lately.

3. Kristina Werner's KWernerDesignBlog . Kristina does some really nice work and she also does videos that you can watch *and* she also works for Stampin' Up!

4. Julie Ebersole's Paper Trufflez . I've always admired Julie's deceptively simple and clean looking designs and she is so funny as well.

5. Shari Caroll's blog. Shari is the designer for Hero Arts. I have loved Hero Arts as long as I remember and so they are very close to my heart.

Really, I can't think of whom else I'd like to nominate. I try not to blog hop because it just sucks waay too much time.

I do have some art that I will post soon. I have a week off so I'll do it sometime this week.

Summer Swaps

So, after much struggle, I finished the swaps I had signed up for. Because I didn't have a clue what the end result was going to be, I muddled along. But the end result was worth it and I love my creation. I started with vanilla cardstock. Because I had spent and arm and a leg to buy Tim Holtz's craft sheet (basically, a silicone sheet that is 15 x 18 inches) I was determined to use it. I randomly inked my fired brick distress ink pad on the sheet along with one of the browns (not sure which). Then I spritzed with water and gently laid the cardstock in the puddles. I was really surprised with the softness of the brick red as it looks more like the colour worn lipstick. The dappling efect of the colours are so gorgeous- am definitley going to be making lots more backgrounds like these.

I had also purchased a retired set-Botanical and was anxious to use it. I overstamped in vintage photo (or was that tea ink?) the french script fromt that set and then spritzed it to get a softer look. The red poppy was stamped in Timber brown stazon (my new favourite ink, now that I've gotten over the smell of the pad) and coloured in with some cheapo coloured pencils. I also used Stampin' Up!'s marker olive, to colour the leaves.

I had gotten a Paper Artsy stamp set ( Buttons, Plate 4) and wanted to incorporate what I thought were theBronte sisters stamp in my ATC so I stamped it on a transparency and cut them out to overlay it on the main ATC.

The "pin" part of the ATC was also fun to make. Dollar store embellishments were used- they are "mini frames with brads". I learned this from my friend Robin at our last stamping get together (thanks, Robin for sharing with us this idea). I used crystal effects to hold together a "scene" I created with mini mulberry flowers. The original plan was to tat little butterflies and use them in the frame but I've misplaced my tatting shuttle and threads so I used the image from the sisters instead- colouring them in with chalks.

I backed my ATC with cereal box cardboard and I also edged them with my Zig gold pen.

So now, I was also in some inchie swaps as well and so I had leftover "sisters" from the transparencies and I cut them out carefully and layered them on my inchies. I like how it turned out.

Here are some other things I had worked on in the last little while (before my dry spell).

Garden tales

Artwise, I have been at a standstill. My muse has packed up and wandered away as I struggle to create for a couple of swaps coming up. ACK!! Summer seems here to stay and I am constantly fighting with the dandelions and other greens that are taking over my garden.
My raspberries are out and am swimming in fruit. I already made a batch of jam out of desperation. I may need to freeze some of these berries and I know I still have berries from last year-help!! If you live within driving distance, do consider coming out and helping me with my dilemma as I can't keep up with the harvesting of the raspberries. Last year, I made raspberry syrup, some raspberry vodka cordial and raspberry jelly.

I have been trying to line up friends to come out and harvest these lovely beauties. There are only so many raspberries one can eat :)


Here's another picture to tempt you.... These red, luscious, organic raspberries truly are gems of nature. I seem to have a little visitor in my garden. My neighbours, who are bird freaks, tell me that we have some blue jays visiting and staying. They've gotten them trained so that my neighbours show up with peanuts and other nuts for the birds when they come out into the garden. When I was out picking the lovely raspberries you see in the pictures, I heard this loud squawking from the bushes in front of me. It was so loud, I thought it was a magpie, but it was only one of the bluejays, protesting at my presence in his patch of berries! I shooed him away, of course, he'd better learn to share :)

I've yet to attack the grass with the dandelion stick because I really want my lawn to remain organic. Especially since I found a patch of edible looking mushrooms under the golden crabapple tree. They were so edible looking, I found myself taking a bite out of the stem.I took it inside, washed it off and ate it. It was really, really good! It tasted very umami- savoury and meaty- surely something like this cannot be poisonous? So I decided to look it up and apparently, you're supposed to identify the mushroom *before* you eat it. So, I did a spore print and it had some lovely brown and salmon coloured spores, and the mushroom is white and has unattached gills and a ring on the stipe too. From some pictures, and the identification key I followed, I think it is a Trichoroma pardixx but since I am not 100% sure, I am going to wait till I take a course on mushroom identification before I proceed. Too bad, though, since that would have been a lovely meal. And they continure to taunt me as I can see their lovely white caps in the grass out the window from where my computer is located. ETA: I have to revise my identification since I've done more poking and it turns out my mushroom is Agaricus oseanus, as it also bruises yellow when damaged and I do remember the flesh turning yellow from me holding it. I'ts listed as cautionary edible, meaning that some people have had allergic reactions to it. Apparently, it has also been mistaken for the Amanita species (and likelwise) of which all species are poisonous. So perhaps I was wise to not consume it all. Just so people don't think I do very cavalier things all the time (okay so those of you who know me will realise I do anyways because of my risktaking behaviour, but that is another story for another time) I have taken several undergraduate courses in fungal physiology so I am not doing this blindly.

So, I don't think I posted a picture of what I did with my most favouritest inchies. I framed them. They are on the wall beside the computer so I get to gaze at them everyday an I love this idea so much, I am going to frame more inchies and surround this picture with more framed inchies. Those inchies are too beautiful to leave hidden in the box and sticking them in an album is just too geeky for me. The tactile inchies like my shaker ones will still be in the box, though because some of them inchies need to be fondled. It has gotten so that I can identify each and every inchie in the frame. Everyone's style is unique to them and that's what makes each inchie special.

I sure hope my muse returns soon.I need to get my stuff complete and out the door tomorrow. I also need to find my tatting shuttle and threads ... sigh..... wish me luck!

Inchie display, and some ATCs

My friend Kim posted a lovely dolly a couple of days ago and inspired me to attempt an ATC dolly. So, may I present Queen Beatrix. .....She is modeled very much after our friend Queen E, but unlike Kimmie's sweet and playful dolly, our friend Beatrix is sedate and regal in her bearing, and has what appears to be giant ankles. In her defense, I should have shaded her legs so you can see that she has very slim and fetching ankles. I watercoloured the background and fingerpainted over with gesso in a poor attempt at emulating Kim's gorgeous background. The ATC was also sponged with Distress Ink Vintage Photo. Her dress is outlined with gold Zig painty and her lovely sparkly shoes are made of burnt red glimmer mist scraps (Tattered Angels) and highlighted with half pearls. Her wings are from SU Natural Beauty set.

I was also rooting though my box of inchies yesterday- for those of you who don't know. I've been carrying around all the inchies I got from my various swaps in this lunch tin picked up from the dollar store. I love running my fingers through the various inchies but I thought it was time to actually do something with them. I've had this frame for ages and it has 3 5.5X5.5 windows and I picked out some of my favourite inchies and stuck them in the windows with non-permanent glue so iIcan go back and change them from time to time. I love how they look and plan to get more of these frames for the rest of my inchies. I didn't even bother removing the background pictures in the frame.This is what it looks like:
I have also been making other ATCs. Susie (Boxermama on SCS) has been running Weekend ATC challenges and I've been taking part in them when I can. Last year, I had no interest in making ATCs at all. None whatsoever. The adage that your friends really do have a great influence on you is so true- even as adults because I can't get enough of ATCs and I am trying out things I would never have done even a year ago. It truly is the influence of those I hang around with, even virtually....

2 of Cupcakes and 2 hearts in Paris was for Susie's Altered Playing Cards theme last week.

I am on a pink and brown kick, obviously. 2 of Cupcakes has a SU stitched bkg stamped in SU close to cocoa onto a SU Rose Red watercoloured bkg. The Cupcakes are a Mike's stamp and has Liquid Applique frosting and yummy looking seed beads. 2 of hearts is gessoed and stamped with Distress Tea dye. The stamps are from Cavalini & Sons (Eiffel Tower, postoid), SU (hearts-Love matters) and Teesha Moore (birds).

The ATC below was created for Kim's Who's Who Swap on SCS. This was completed a month ago but since we're on th topic of ATCs.... Bkg is salt resist technique. I took the liberty of adding acetate wings to the little kid (me- and if you knew me growing up, you'd be ROTFL). The acetate wings were enhanced with a white Souffle pen.Yes, there is a little bead necklace on the kid. And the flowers on the dress were highlighted with Stardust clear as well.

Teeth of Lions

Dandelions. Dent-de- lion.... supposedly a plant that came over from Europe. The leaves resembles the jagged teeth of lions. Supposedly very rich in vitamins and can be eaten as salad greens. The plant in itself, is useful. You can make wine with the nodding yellow heads that when dried up, turn into puffballs to spread their seed. Images of faeries hitching a ride from garden to garden on the dandelion seeds. The roots, if you dry them up and roast them, makes a good coffee substitute- very much like chicory. They are also taking over my garden. For three years, I have fought the urge to decimate them. I will dig them up- I have an organic garden. I am not crazy about poisoning them. After all, they (the dandelions) have been here long before I have. I discovered this when two years ago, I decided I was going to plant pumpkins. I dug up a patch in the back of one of the sheds, and found dandelion roots so torturous and twisted and fat as the size of my thumbs-. There they were, broken white fingers bleeding white sap amidst the dark dirt. I dug out what I could but in the back of my mind, I knew that this was futile.

I have been digging the little buggers out of my yard the last few days. I have broken two metal dandelion picks and I have giant blister in the middle of my palm from where I press the pick into the ground.I have garden bag full of dandelion plants, dug up. I am heading to the store for the dandelion bar. I cannot do this on my own. There just is simply too many dandelions for me to cope on my own.


This is the garden after the mowing:
(the dandelions are still there, the leaves and flowers are gone but the tenacious tap roots are there, waiting to sprout out new leaves to feed the beast)