Nothing but blues skies….

So far this summer is a real treat.

I feel so very blessed and filled with gratitude!

Not only was last week with my sister and the kiddos, and my short visit with e.b. wonderful,

but yesterday, I spent my Monday afternoon here :

on North Beach in Hampton Beach, NH with my pal Colleen,

followed by a trip to Portsmouth Fabric, which is like the very best candy store a child could imagine but for fabric.

Colleen and I spent way too much money on these luscious pieces of silk dupioni

but how could we resist when they were 20% off !

In this photo, the darker one reads as cobalt but really it is the most delicious shade of royal plum !

Plus we are going to need them where we are going to spend next week.

We will also be bringing a few speckled NH rocks across state lines

when we go to provide care and love to this sweet creature :

Miss Luna,

and gaze at this view for a while…

Not to mention make great use of all the skills and techniques our teacher taught us

while she is away gathering with her family.

Colleen and I keep her home fires burning with great pleasure.

Actually, no fires but definitely a happy puppy, some dyeing pots simmering and some bees wax melting !

So many blessing have come from this connection.

I am kind of in awe about it all a lot of the time !

I was also blown away by a treats that was in my mail box yesterday as well.

This beautiful envelop

from my gloriously talent artist-friend, lynne hoppe.

It’s this angel stamp amazing ?

Inside was this beautiful little piece that I had noticed on lynne’s blog a few posts back.

I wrote to her, asking if I might have a colored copy of this mermaid creature called “happy girl flying” and what I could swap with her for the copy.

Well, my generous friend tore the page from her book and sent me the original !!!

I am so in love with it !!!

I cannot wait to take some time and find the perfect frame and matte and hang it somewhere where I can love it every time I walk by !

Thank you so much, beautiful lynne !

So yep, my friends, Summer 2012 seems to be a treat for me !

And it isn’t even July 4th yet !

Happy Tuesday, Beautiful Ones !

I hope your day feels like a treat too !

Sweet Spring Weekend

Busy weekends sometimes mean no time for hair primping.

That’s when a good hat can be a Queen’s best friend !

Like this great one I ordered for myself recently from a fundraiser that Kal Baretski ([i] love life blog) did for the Live Out Loud Adoption Project. Cute hat, great artist, a word that so works for me on it,  and giving some $$ to a great family and a great cause.

A win win win, right ?

And it means that I can be lazy once in awhile, and cover up bed head, instead of having to blow dry every day!

My fun and busy weekend started on Friday.

I was lucky enough to head over to Ink About It in Westford, MA for a class with my friends Patti and Colleen.

It was a workshop on how to use Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plates ! Fun and messy ! My kind of art !

We had lots of fun with our great teacher, Ursula Smith, slapping paint around, and creating some great background papers with this fun tool !

These are some of the awesome pieces of paper that came home with me. Yummy stuff for the journal !

My favorite technique was the one using stencils and the Gelli plate. It also gave me an excuse to buy a few more new stencils from Crafter’s Workshop that I had been coveting !

I really enjoyed the class. I think my favorite piece was actually my scrap paper used to roll excess paint off of my brayer and the stamps. How cool is this ?

Saturday was spent mostly outside in the back yard. Poop patrol, picking up branches and ball throwing for the sweet pooch filled a lot of the day !

Plus the customary, and so very lovely Saturday afternoon nap with my Honey.

Sunday was unexpectedly beautiful here in NH.

They were calling for rain but it was a sunny, warm day instead.

What could we do but pack up the beach chairs, a bucket for some rocks, stop by and pick up Colleen and head to the beach for the afternoon?

North Beach in Hampton was pretty quiet.

It was Mother’s Day after all and I guess that’s where the people were.

Perfect for the three us !

While walking along the surf, Colleen and I saw quiet a few of these little butterflies struggling in the sand and water.

Strange !

Colleen rescued a couple of them, picking them up and bringing them to the dry, warm rocks to sit in sun and dry out.

I think I am going to have to start calling her “The Butterfly Whisperer.”

All in all, a super nice weekend.

The week ahead is a busy one.

Lots of rock orders to fill, house cleaning and getting ready for my Mom’s visit on Friday., and I am feeling itchy with a few creative ideas in my head that need to be put into action.

And of course, I also want to remember to take the time to enjoy the sweetness of Spring time whenever possible.

Happy Monday, Beautiful Ones !

I hope your week is filled with sweets !

Today’s Post is brought to you by the Letter B !

So did anyone notice that I did a “Try Something Tuesday” post on Monday ?

My always very observant hubby did.

I only realized it at around 7:00pm when he mentioned it to me.

We had a good laugh about that !

I had gone the whole day without noticing !!!

I am such a weirdo sometimes !

 

I have to say that though I was encouraging all of you to try something new yesterday, I was also struggling with staying away from an icky place.

Savoring my mango for breakfast was one of the steps I was taking to Be in the present moment and get the f**k out of my head!

It helped a bit but what worked way better was

my  unexpected “Be” Day with Colleen !

My beautiful bestie dressed in blue and I walked to the babbling brook in the woods behind her house.

The sky was the same blue as Colleen’s t-shirt!

We sat on a big boulder and blabbed a bit as the bugs buzzed and the brook bubbled.

Then we walked on and were given a beautiful gift !

Behold ! A big fat beaver walking across a log bridge over the brook !!!

(The beaver walking by was so breathtaking that neither one of us stopped to get a photo,

but you can image him walking on that horizontal log in this pic taken after he was gone.)

We giggled and shared our bountiful excitement, giving one another a big bear hug right there in the woods !

Then as we ended our walk, we were blessed with this baby !

There, on the dirt road, a brand new butterfly !

I had to move in a bit to get this amazing portrait of this bold and beautiful being!

A Tiger Swallowtail basking in the sun on this brand new day.

 

Colleen and I noticed all the “B”s that were popping into our day.

We decided to keep it going by heading the the “Brick House” for lunch,

a local greasy spoon, drive-up place, famous for its burgers.

We decided to be BAD !

Colleen had a burger, I had 2 burpers (hotdogs) and we shared some yummy fries !

A big old hug in the Brick House parking lot ended out time together and I have to say,

my “Be” Day  with my Colleen-y pretty much banished the ickies from my brain !

Love you, Girl Friend !

 

be…………………………….Be

Oh, ya.

Taking time to make art is another way that I try and banish the ickies!

Here’s what’s been popping up lately…

A 6X6” canvas, paint and collage bits.

I was just trying to let whatever wanted to come spill out.

Not sure it is finished or if I like it, though I do like the expression in my butterfly queen.

This bit of writing in actually a piece of my Dad’s handwriting.

I found a whole bunch of his journal pages in a box in the basement last weekend.

This was all that was written on a sheet of loose leaf paper.

I cut it up and glued it here.

Feels powerful somehow…

“The story continues.”

A page in my Strathmore Visual Journal book.

I asked the Universe to give me a day without self-criticism and self-inflicted hurt.

The Angel said “It’s all yours, Baby !”

I’m gonna take it !!!

 

be………………………………Be

 

Phew, that was a long post !

Well, if you are still with me,

I am sending out big waves of love and light today,

and working on giving myself plenty of the same !

Happy TUESDAY, Beautiful Ones !

Haiku My Heart Friday - Ellipsis…

 

Our joy-filled moments…

Treasures found, then left behind...

We shared them well

******************

I have been away.

Missed you guys !

But I needed the time to just be.

Be with all of it.

Be in the moment.

Be Me.

Here’s some of my favorite pics of my time away…

beach        blooms       views

Joy-filled moments

that nothing can take away.

 

Treasures found and left behind…

 

Supplies…

that gave us the energy to create these gorgeous artful prayer flags…

by Terry

by Patti

by Linda

by Terry H.

by Barb

by Me

And journal pages, expressing stuff along the way…

(the images with the number tags are cut out of an old print catalogue from 100 Proof Press Stamps)

(a play on a quote by Muriel Rukeyser.)

(a random piece of a book page makes poetry here)

(more random word poetry here)

The thing I came away with the most after my time away was how precious each moment is.

And how comforting returning to the present moment can be.

Be in this moment.

Love it, live it.

This is your one precious life, Beautiful Ones.

Soak it up !

Happy Easter Weekend!

Big Love !