Carved Pumpkins

Most awesome carved pumpkins ever!!  These are by Ray Villafane.  See more here.

Destination Ohio

There's nothing like a little get-away on a beautiful fall day.  I took a day off work and headed up the road to friend Gaye's.  From there, we took the getaway car up the road to Cincinnati. 

 There is a section of the road, just before you reach the Ohio River, where you are on a hill and have a fantastic view of the city of Cincinnati.  Every time, I think to myself that I should take a picture of that view.  But it only lasts an instant before the road goes downhill and the view is lost.  I managed to get a lovely picture of the backs of several trucks and cars, but not the view.

I did take these while crossing the bridge from Kentucky to Ohio.  Lovely views of the bridge supports, don't you think?  But look what a beautiful day it was!

 This was our main destination.  Stamp Your Art Out - a fantastic rubber stamp store that has been around a long time.  They are in the last days of a closing sale, everything 50% off.  It may look pretty bare, but there are lots of very cool things still available.

I can't believe I have never noticed this display of T-shirts before.  They are the shirts sold at the annual Stampaway convention, each year with its own logo.  (I own almost all the stamps and tote bags with these logos!)

This is Connie Williams, store owner and convention-holder extraodinaire.  Does she look sad that she is going to have a little more free time after the store closes?  You be the judge!

Notice I didn't say after she "retires" because she is still going to busy with her stamp company (Verses) and still holding the annual convention (Stampaway XXI in August 2013), so never fear...  And if you can't get to the store in Cincinnati, you can take advantage of the 50% sale by going here and here.

I got a few stamps, Distress ink pads, a stencil and other goodies.  What a bargain! 
From there, we visited Marco's in Dayton, 25 miles further north.  We both stocked up on some paper and cardstock.  I'm anxious to try out the Premium Writing Paper for book pages.  It has a very luxurious feel.

We had a quickie lunch at Wendy's nearby, where it was apparently Women-With-Walkers day.  Two separate pairs of older women, one in each pair walking with the aid of a walker.  One woman was grumpy and rude.  One was happy and excited about being out in her pretty blue blouse, getting treated to a Frosty.  Life is all about perspective.  And nothing could be better than a fun outing on a beautiful day, Frosty or no Frosty.

Fashion Figure

Sometimes my stack-of-stuff next to my reading spot gets pretty unruly.  At times I don't remember what's in the stck and why.  In going through it, I remembered I keep saving figures from the sale papers so that I can carve silhouette stamps from them.  So, I had a decision to make, continue tidying up or stop then and there and make some carvings.  Need I say more.

Glad I got that out of my system.  I discovered that making scribble marks is a lot easier with a writing tool than with a carving tool.  And I discovered that the rounded carving tool helps make great circles (which is why the stamp on the right had three holes in her body.  No word on how she ended up with one skinny leg and one fat wavy leg!)

 

Now I need to get back to clearing out that stack, which is mostly composed of expired coupons and newpaper clippings of events that have already passed...

 

Candy Corn Chronicles #1

In honor of October, I present tips from the Candy Corn Chronicles.

Tip One:  You can stamp on candy corn, if you so choose.  (But you might not want to tell people you actually sit around stamping on candy corn.  They might think you are, um, weird or something.)

Tip Two:  If you like free clip art, you might want to head over to Retro Cafe and download this sheet of Halloween images.  It is only available through October.

October Book

I am bouncing around from work stuff, sketching stuff, checking the persimmon tree, and still spraying papers with orange, purple and black.

After looking at the last piece I posted, I felt I wouldn't do anything with it because of its tall narrow size.  But if I fold it in half, I might make an October Book, stitched at the top.  Of course, that requires more paper, more spraying, more stenciling...  And wet stencils lead to blotting--anything laying around within arm's length is fair game for spraying and blotting.  It is a vicious cycle.  And a fun one...

October... in progress

Now that October is here, I had a sudden urge to shake things up, paint something in orange, purple and black.  Those are not colors I normally work with, but it's all about doing something different.

I would not say I've been in a rut, because I haven't. But I have been working a lot lately on small to medium journal pages, working small, adding fine detail. So it was fun to grab a piece of larger watercolor paper, get out the sprays, stencils and paint, and just play.

I really like this. Not sure what will happen to it next. I've been practicing some big drippy words to go down one side, but not willing to commit that that just yet. Likewise, the piece of batik fabric is not attached, just laying on top for me to admire for now. (Yes, Gaye, I got that piece of fabric from your yard sale!)

Here are some close-ups, plus the tools I used.

Suddenly I want some halloween candy...