Artful Journey

bringing work home with me. I must remind myself it's the weekend! #perk of the job! Not only is it the weekend, but it's St. Patrick's Day weekend, so here's to the wearing of the green. One of my favorite arrangements of the week in honor of the Irish flag... Irish pride in a flowery way! And maybe a greeting card  calligraphically speaking! Wishing you a happy St. Patrick's Day weekend. Slainte!

bring work home with me... a reminder, spring is coming... After looking and working with flowers all day, you might think that I will have had my fill. That is what I would have thought. But the reality is, that even after looking at them all day, I like to have a vase on my table... and maybe even a little mason jar for the living room. Tulips definitely signal spring! These tulips were a little droopy, so past their sell by date...but, they work perfectly in a little mason jar. Hopefully, the florist trick of adding a penny to the water will help them last a few days... It's hard to believe it's the end of the month, it was down to the wire, but I managed to get my Pushing the Envelope Exchanges out... More flowers to match the postage stamp... February was international correspondence month, that was inspiration to get a few letters to pen pals out.. it's never too late to send a little love... I am hoping March brings warm weather, flowers,...

Choose.  That's my word of the year that I selected in January, and already I love it. In a scary world, where sometimes it seems as if we have no control over almost anything. we can choose. Although we can't always control our situation, we can at least choose our reaction and attitude, and when necessary readjust our focus.  It's proactive, rather than only reactive, and rather than feeling powerless, we can feel powerful, even in small ways. Calligraphy practice...every day I am combining Choose with other positive C words, and plan on adding and Changing them every month. January brought some unexpected changes for me, included an unanticipated Career opportunity doing something I love... lots of arranging... but more about that next week, when I will be in full on production mode. February is Correspondence month, and I am way behind on that, so that's my plan for Saturday. Sunday is the Superbowl, which will require all of my energy! Go Pats......

Happy New Year after a month long hiatus of frigid temperatures warmed by the arrival of holiday mail and Christmas celebrations, my happiest mail arrived in person... Onz and Deets hand delivered their Christmas card to us. Onz and Deets arrived and stayed for most of December, much to everyone's delight here.  I'm just left wondering why time flies when you are having fun?  They definitely make life fun, so the time went by in a blink. Icy cold weather with sub zero wind chills provided a great reason to stay inside and do some baking. One of Onz's favorites is making and decorating sugar cookies, and she has it down to a science. I always learn a new technique or two from her, and the results taste as good as they look.  Before we enjoyed them with a cup of tea, I made an envelope to coordinate with a US postage stamp featuring sugar cookies and our own cookie creation. They really are good enough to eat! And last but not least, the absolute best pa...

November's PTE exchange brings Autumn and Thanksgiving to mind.  I didn't have any Rooster stamps, which I thought could have been a cute idea..maybe next year. Instead I used the food stamps in homage to the bounty of Thanksgiving. I coordinated the lettering to the color of the stamp and added some Autumn flowers. While PTE is an envelope exchange, I  like to include a note. Here I have stamped an image (from Simon Says Stamp) using my Tim Holtz stamp positioner.  This is similar to a Misti, but less expensive. I learned about this product from Eileen, the Artful Crafter, and I love it.  I am able to achieve better results and use some interesting techniques. PTE Exchange Thankful for the chance to be creative More matching postage stamp to lettering colors I picked up this card at Hallmark....oh how I love that store! and I really love the sentiment. "If the world had more people like you, we'd all be saying that you a lot more often"  I feel tru...

On Tuesday, we took a walk over the hill to Griswold Pond...very small, nestled in a neighborhood, a little bit of nature tucked in the city.. enjoyable little spot for this swan. I love how the clouds reflected on the pond on this one.  We waited patiently for the swan to move a little closer. and I did have to zoom.. The branch hangs precariously across a tranquil scene. Playing around with some of the filters, I altered the picture to this. an impressionist view... The colors on the back ground on this remind me of Monet's waterlilies What do you think?

My mom always said the man who made time made plenty of it. However at the moment, I seem to be in a time warp/stealing vortex, and time is disappearing faster than I can fathom. In the desire to take a short break, here's a post for T on Tuesday with Elizabeth and Bleubeard. such a cute fairy garden.. I think the pebbles are supposed to be potatoes, but then I have an eye for them.. 50 lbs of spuds at a time... they won't last long! We love potatoes here, and I refer to them as Irish ice cream...and as the saying goes... A constant reminder on the fridge thanks to Onz Not so sure if I would pair it with Gunpowder tea not really a gin drinker, but... When visiting my friends yesterday, Mary pulled out this cool bottle distilled in Drumshanbo, her hometown in Ireland. It was news to all of us. Just a drop, maybe? Happy t day!