Reconnecting With Nature... Mother Nature Artist

Hi my dear readers. Almost every day I go out with camera in hand and take photos of what is around me. Because of that I see things I might have missed and even traveling the same paths over and over there are new things to see. Perhaps it is the play of light and shadow or maybe the way the colors appear different depending on the lighting. Yesterday I went out with the boys (my two dogs). Usually they are patient as I snap photos but for some reason they wanted to keep moving and even tried pulling me up some rocks in search of some prey. Still I managed to snap a few photos.

 

I thought I had seen all the different wildflowers in the area but the gorgeous colors of these captured my eye. They look like bluebells to me. Unfortunately I did not have my book of wildflowers with me.

 

I wanted to get a better picture of the Queen Ann's lace but one dog was pulling me one way and the other the other way.  I have to laugh when I see them blooming as when I was a young girl I planted Queen Ann's Lace in my small garden plot only to come home and learn that my Mom had weeded them thinking they were weeds. To be honest I think she was afraid they might contaminate her immaculate gardens. Sometimes I wonder why we don't garden like Mother Nature the artist. There is such beauty in the way she combines plants,grasses,and even rocks.

Finally my boys allowed me to rest for awhile on a bench in the shade. The play of the shadows intrigued me as did the fallen log laying like someone had laid it on purpose on top of the rock. Proof again that Mother Nature is an artist and that beauty is all around us if only we look for it.

I am linking this with Reconnecting With Nature. Do check out some of the other photos if you get the chance.Reconnecting With Nature

Blessing till we meet again!

Happiness Card

Hi readers! Has Summer come to your part of the world yet? It is definitely Summer here but at least not humid so I can stand the hotter temperatures. The weather has been so nice I already have little green tomatoes. The lettuce has gone crazy in pots and needs to be harvested but the peas don't seem to like this hotter weather. The weather went pretty much from Winter into Summer.

O.K I know I talk about being frugal here but ever once in awhile the "Material Girl" raises her head and won't be satisfied until I buy her some things.  Most of what I buy is at thrift stores like the oil pastels and one of the stencils I used on this card. However, with gelatos showing up being used in so many projects I could not resist buying some metallic ones. Then today in the mail came a kit with gelatos and another goodie. :-) Anyway here is a card I made from my experiments.

 The blue at the top is where I used a mini honeycomb stencil with a  blue gelato stick and water on a piece of scrap white cardstock. I was a little heavy handed scribbling the gelato over the stencil. Also it was only near the bottom of the cardstock where I had the perfect amount of water on my brush where the color didn't totally bleed under the stencil. You know what they say about practice makes perfect.

The "happiness" is from a stamp set. Because I did not want to cover up the stenciled design and don't like to stamp directly on something in case I mess up I stamped on packing tape using Stazon ink. I first stamped using Cherry Pink but alas it was too light of a color. I decided that the Teal color probably would not show either. Since I don't have a Black Stazon pad I went with the Royal Purple.

The black here is actually from inside a page protector. I bought a box of 100 for $2.50 at the thrift store this week. I didn't have any black cardstock so thought I would try an insert. :-) The design is a Plaid stencil I bought at the thrift store for a quarter. I rubbed three different colors of oil pastels over the stencil and then while the stencil was still on the black rubbed with my fingers. After taking the stencil off I took a gelato and rubbed a wet brush over it and then brushed the color on the black over my stenciling. Alas I could not pick up the shimmer in my photo. The blue,pink and purple colors didn't really show on the black but it did give a nice silver shimmer.

The image is one I downloaded from Dover some time ago. It actually was a yellow color but through the magic of my printer I was able to turn it into a monochromatic print. I didn't realize but somehow after I printed it and before I cut it with my Cameo I moved the image on the workspace a hair. This left a small white edge. Normally I would have edged the entire image with ink because it gives a nice dimension. This time though I decided to paint just the one edge with purple dimensional fabric paint.  After the paint was dry I pop dotted it on the black panel.

There you have it my experiment with stencils using oil pastels and gelato sticks. I have done more experimenting with the gelato sticks and using plastic page protectors. I can't wait to share my experiments with you. I love the other card I finished today but want to wait until I can finish the second card to share both of them in the same post.  I'll give you a hint they also use tissue paper or facial tissue and floor wax. Lol! My friend who has been visiting saw me brushing on the floor wax and commented that he was wondering why I had floor wax on hand since he has never seen me wax floors. I bought the floor wax to make Christmas ornaments and no sense in just tossing it out. I do want to see if this technique would also work with white glue since I know not everyone would want to go out and buy the floor wax for crafting.

Off to see if things have dried so I can craft some more. If not maybe I'll go and play with my other new toy that came today. Oh, if you live in the U.S. and would like to try your hand at gelatos Amazon has a kit for under $20 with ten gelato sticks and lots of other goodies including a 24 page booklet. If you order $35 of eligible products  you get free shipping but even if you don't the shipping is reasonable and you will spend less than the retail price.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Reconnecting With Nature In Spokane While Revisiting The Fair Grounds

 Hi my dear readers. Sunday was a gorgeous day so the boys and I hopped into the car and went on an adventure traveling over the State Line to Spokane. This year Spokane is celebrating the 40 year anniversary of the World's Fair. It does not seem like it was that long ago that with my young guide I toured the fair grounds. Even though I'm terrified of heights he got me to take the ride over Spokane Falls which most of these photos will be of.  Although this time they were taken with my feet firmly planted on the ground. Grab yourself something to drink and a snack to eat and go on this photo journey with me. There are a lot of photos but I did thin them down from a hundred.  When you are done with this journey head on over to Reconnect with nature one photograph at a time where there are several links of beautiful photos.

 

I believe this is the lower Spokane Falls. One side of the road is lower and the other side is upper.  To me not as spectacular as the upper falls where you can take cars which go on a cable in the air across the falls.

The pictures below were taken of the upper falls at different angles and different places along the paths.

 

I thought it was interesting in this area to see a sign stating that there is a restoration project in place. They are taking out the non-native plants and replacing with plants native to the area. The theme of the fair was environment so this fits in with that theme.

 

These next few pictures were taken looking over the edge of a bridge railing. I was really wishing the railing was a little higher as it is a long ways down if I got dizzy and fell over. I used the zoom on my camera to get these shots.

 

It is amazing to me to see shrubs and trees growing through the cracks of rocks in the water.

 

Finally off the bridge and on pavement again so I can breathe easier.

 

Wire structure  in the background is the Pavilion from the World's Fair. During the World's fair it was covered in canvas and if I remember correctly covered in lights. At that time it housed the IMax theater which has since been moved to another location.

 

For some reason the sidewalk was locked so had to take this from behind the railing of the blue bridge zooming in.

 

My boys in the Spokane River cooling off.  Buddy shaking the water off his fur.

I love the texture of this old stump and it reminds me that aging can be beautiful

 

Spokane is the city of lilacs so no journey would be complete without a photo of the lilacs in bloom. I love the heady fragrance and was pleased that I could enjoy the fragrance on this trip.

 

Sculptors commemorating the workers who built Spokane. The fence in the background is metal.

 

  

From a distance I thought this was actually a workman hauling bricks. Of course I had the sun in my eyes.

 

The Spokane River was full of different birds. These were in an area where there were less people. Maybe they were looking for a little oasis of calm like me.

 

Of course any journey would not be complete without one last look at the clock tower prominent part of the landscape. It originally was part of a Great Northern depot which was demolished for Expo 74. That was our meeting spot to head home at the end of the day at the World's Fair. With my mental scrapbook bulging at the seams with old and new memories it is time to head home. And just in time as leaving the city raindrops started falling.

On the way home I was thinking how lucky I've been to have had the opportunity to go to three World Fairs in my lifetime. I skipped school to go to the Seattle World's Fair before it closed. Then I was able to go to the Spokane World's Fair and the World's Fair in Vancouver British Columbia. Hopefully Minnesota will win the bid so I can travel to that one in 2022 or 2023 as that looks like the next proposed one in the U.S.

The next World Fair will be in Milan Italy. Maybe I should start saving my pennies to go. ;-) In the meantime I hope you have enjoyed seeing part of the fair grounds and the nature that exists there. As well as some of the art work.

Blessing till we meet again!